Annie
by Andrew's Slinky
Summary: Everything is going wonderfully well at number 12 Grimmauld Place until Arthur's baby sister shows up and throws the whole place upside down, and in doing so, catches the eye of everyone's favorite convict bachelor: Sirius Black.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Annie, she's my creation. The rest is J. K. Rowling.

Summary: It's the summer before fifth year and everyone is at Grimmauld Place. When Arthur's "sister" shows up. The place is turned upside down as everyone is determined to get her together with none other than the most gorgeous bachelor there. Sirius Black.

The Weasley family, along with Sirius, his godson Harry, younger cousin Tonks, and best friend Remus were all eating dinner in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. They were celebrating Harry's get away from charges at the Ministry and Arthur had another announcement that was going to put his family and friends in a better mood. Well, his family anyway. He stood and cleared his throat.

'I realize that this is a celebration and I must admit that we were all a bit worried about Harry's verdict. But with the circumstances I'd like to tell you something else.' He said. All eyes at the table were watching him in apprehension.

'My sister, Annie will be coming to visit and help with the order.' And with that, the entire Weasley family burst into fits of irrepressible excitement. The twins and Ginny were all giving high-fives, Bill was smiling, and Ron was explaining about Annie to Harry and Hermione.

Sirius watched the table in interest. This Annie must be something for them to get as excited as they were. He wondered if she was pretty.

Remus watched his best friend out of the corner of his eye and knew what he was thinking. He was wondering if Arthur's sister was pretty, then something clicked in the werewolf's mind.

'I thought you didn't have any siblings Arthur?' he asked the older man.

'I don't. Annie isn't my biological sister. She was my next door neighbor growing up and when her parents were killed she lived with us. She's been my sister and the kids' Aunt Annie since I can remember.' He told Remus with a reminiscent smile on his face.

'And what a job that is.' Remarked a young woman at the door. She was medium height and very pretty. Her eyes almond shaped and a deep blue. Her skin tan and flawless. Her body held muscle tone and her hair was a deep strawberry blonde. She had an easy smile and enveloped Arthur in a hug. She was younger, thirty six. Around Remus and Sirius's age.

'Aunt Annie!' exclaimed the kids as they all came and hugged her. The twins each gave her a kiss on the cheek, and Bill lifted her in a bear hug.

'Hey you guys.' She said, her eyes brightening. She reached behind her and drug a rather large duffel into the room.

'Let's see, I'm sure I have gifts in here somewhere.' She muttered as she dug through the blue bag.

'Oh, Annie. You shouldn't have.' Said Molly.

'Oh, nonsense, Molly. I really should.' She told the older woman with a smile. Molly watched her with a small smile on her own face as the younger woman continued to dig.

'Where the hell did they go?' she muttered. The kids watched her for a moment with playful smiles on their faces.

'Aha!' she exclaimed in triumph. She pulled out another bag and opened it up. She pulled out a pair of earrings for Molly and cologne for Arthur before she gave Bill some new gloves for work, the twins each got some new fireworks that she had created herself, and she slipped them another package while their mother wasn't looking. She gave Ron some Chudley Cannons memorabilia. Then she spun around and handed Ginny a small leather bound book.

Ginny stared at it with a bit of fear, the diary from her first year, playing in her mind.

'Open it kiddo.' Said Annie, reading the look on Ginny's face. When the youngest Weasley opened the book her face broke into a wide grin.

'Oh, Aunt Annie. It's perfect! Thank you!' she exclaimed as she gave her Aunt a hug. The leather bound book was all about pirates. Specifically the adventures of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow.

'Your welcome. I always found pirates fascinating.' She told her niece.

'Annie, lets introduce you.' Interrupted Molly, slightly peeved at Ginny's gift. Annie spun around and noticed the other people in the room for the first time.

'Hi.' She said.

'Annie, this is Remus Lupin.' The two shook hands and exchanged smiles.

'Tonks.' The two women waved.

'And Sirius. Arthur did explain Sirius, right?' asked Molly fearfully when she saw Annie's eyes widen at the sight of him. He had shoulder length, raven hair that tumbled gracefully into his grey eyes. He gave her a dazzlingly charming smile. Annie felt her knees go weak slightly as he held out his hand for her to shake. She extended her own and to her surprise and secret pleasure he brought her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. She smiled at him as he let go of her hand.

'Pleased to meet you. Yes, Molly, Arthur explained.'

'The pleasure's mine, luv.' He responded, a twinkle in his eyes.

'I would think so.' She murmured in reply with a smirk resting on her lips. Sirius returned the gesture, as he looked her up and down, she was wearing a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove, a dark green t-shirt that stretched across her chest that made a rather pleasing picture for his eyes, and heeled boots on her feet. He could see several tattoos, one on her collarbone that he could only see a curve of, one that created a sleeve on her lower left arm. It was a wristband of skulls, complete with little horns, making them look like demons, and above those skulls were red and orange flames, and bursting from the flames was a blue, green and yellow phoenix, curling its way up her arm to rest its head on the inside curve of her elbow. A third rested on her hip, he could see what looked like the peak of a star when she shifted and her shirt rose a bit.

'Annie, that one's new.' Commented Bill when he saw the peak of the star. Annie looked up at him and then down at the tattoo. She lifted the hem of her shirt to reveal a bright silver moon outlined in black, surrounded by seven stars. Each one a different color, the first was blue, and then red, green, yellow, orange, and a white star with a dark streak of blue in it followed by the last star that was a nice bright purple.

'What's that one all about?' asked one of the twins as the Weasley kids turned to look at the newest addition to their Aunt's body art.

'Well, each one of these stars represents one of you kids and the moon is representing your parents, you know, my family.' She shrugged in honest response.

'Cool.' Muttered Ron.

'I have to add something to it though, it's missing something.' She replied as she let her shirt fall back over her tan and muscled stomach.

'Oh, Annie, you and those awful things.' Interrupted Molly as she shook her head and started on dinner.

'I like them Molly, besides, you only live once so why not live the way that you want?' shrugged the younger woman.

'What if the way you want is dangerous?' returned Molly with bite.

'Well, what if the way I want isn't dangerous it just isn't what you want for me?' replied Annie with a smirk on her lips and her hip popped out. Arthur stepped between the two of them and interrupted before something went wrong.

'Smells delicious, Molly why don't we eat?' he suggested.

'Of course, Annie, why don't you take a seat next to Sirius?' suggested Molly, her voice suggesting that she knew exactly why Arthur had stepped in and didn't like it one bit.

'Very well, thank you.' Replied Annie good-naturedly, but her voice was savagely polite. She took the empty seat between Sirius and Harry with more force than entirely necessary. Godson and Godfather exchanged a significant look at the rupture between Annie and Molly.

'Aunt Annie, how many tattoos do you have now?' asked Ron, who was, as per usual, completely oblivious to the fact that this was a touchy subject for both his aunt and his mother.

'Far too many.' Interrupted Molly as she set the food down on the table. Annie sent her a withering glance that made even Sirius blanch but bit her tongue and turned to answer Ron.

'Well, there's the one on my stomach and the one on my arm and then the star on my collarbone, the dragons on my lower back, the fairy on my left shoulder, the mermaid on my right, the memorial on my left arm, the triqueta on my ankle, the skull and crossbones on the back of my neck, so that would make…nine.' She replied, counting them all off on her fingers. When Molly heard the final tally she spun on her sister-in-law her mouth wide open.

'The last count was at three, you added six more?' she asked in astonishment.

'Well, I got the mermaid and fairy together, and then the dragons followed only a few days later, so yeah, I got all nine in a span of, lets see, two years.' She smiled softly like it was something everyone did everyday and she could see Molly turn red.

'What?' she asked innocently and Sirius snorted into his butterbeer in an attempt to control his laughter. Annie glanced over at him with a smirk before settling her blue gaze back on Molly.

'Annie, you are unbelievable.'

'So the men in my bed tell me.' She winked and Molly gave her a scandalous look.

'Annie, there are children in the room!' she admonished.

'Oh please, Molly, Ginny's fourteen for God's sake and I'm sure she talks like this with her friends.'

'You have no idea what she talks about!'

'Oh, yeah, cause I'm she sure she tells you.' Remarked Annie and Molly's face turned a bright red that matched her hair, but instead of replying with something scathing or even just blowing up she turned on her heel and disappeared out the door into the foyer.

'Annie.' Sighed Arthur as he took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose.

'What, she just…' and she trailed off, unable to express exactly what it was that Molly did.

'You have been gone for almost two and a half years and you still know exactly which buttons to push.'

Annie smiled at him and shook her head as she stood, 'Of course I do big brother, it's just like riding a biker.'

Ginny and the twins burst out in fits of giggles, as Sirius watched her with his mouth wide open, imagining exactly how she had learned to coin that statement, and Hermione sat there with a scandalous look. Annie surveyed their reactions and decided that she was going to like this place before she took off in search of her over-bearing, over-protective sister-in-law.

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Okay, something that popped into my head the other day while rereading the fifth book, and I had to write it down. What do you think? Should I continue? And I did mess with the time line a bit to fit stuff the way I wanted it to work, and this will be a Sirius/OC if I get enough reviews to continue.

Andrew's Slinky


	2. Chapter 2

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So I have decided to continue, but these updates will most likely be a little slow since I did mess with the timeline so much, that it would probably take a while for me to get these chapters long enough to post. So please bear with me. And thank you for your lovely reviews.

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Annie had been in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place for three days now and she and Molly had yet to utter a word to one another unless forced to since the incident in the kitchen.

'Annie, would you please help the children clean upstairs?' was the bitingly polite request from Molly and the blonde nodded her head.

'Very well.' She conceded, walking purposefully past her sister-in-law and Sirius, who had just entered the room, and up the stairs.

Molly spun on her own heel and left the room, headed for the kitchen to get some of her own cleaning done and Sirius looked from one to the other before following Annie up the stairs.

'Will you and Molly fight for the rest of your stay?' he asked her, a smirk on his face. Annie sighed and rolled her eyes, shooting him a glance over her shoulder.

'Are you stalking me? Cause that'd be great.'

'Are you gonna answer my question?' he replied as they made it to the landing and started towards one of the rooms that was still in need of a heavy cleaning.

'Molly is stubborn and so am I. We'll probably fight with each till our dying day.' She told him as they entered the nearest open door to find almost the entire Weasley clan inside, cleaning along with Harry and Hermione.

'Sounds like a fun show.'

She giggled as the twins spun around and reached for her, pulling her further into the room and over behind the desk of the study they currently found themselves in.

'Boys, what?' she yelped as they jerked her across the room.

'Check this out, we found this acid burn in the carpet and we were hoping you could tell us what made it so when we open the desk we don't die.' Chorused the twins in a perfect unison that startled their Aunt.

'Uh, its definitely acid, I'd say most likely it comes from a basilisk fang, you can tell because it didn't change the color of the carpet, just burned right through it.'

'A basilisk fang?' Sirius joined their small party, his own eyes passing critically over the hole in the carpet.

'Most likely, but it could be a varied range of animal acids, but it is most likely poisonous, deadly, so, I would wear heavy gloves and avoid touching it if you can.' She nodded in response, turning to look at the man next to her and resisting the urge to gasp as their eyes locked and a current of electricity passed between them.

'Think you can identify it without a doubt?' asked Ron as he bent next to his Aunt and brothers, effectively ending the moment between Sirius and Annie.

'Uh, not without my kit, I don't have it here, so, don't touch it, or anything else in this room, lets go someplace else for now.' She told him, taking his arm and pulling him up and away from the carpet, the twins exchanged a look but followed suit, Sirius right behind them.

'C'mon, lets get out of here.' Annie ushered the rest of the kids out the door, looking over her shoulder at Sirius for a brief moment before following them out and into the next room.

'We already cleaned this one.' Hermione spoke up for the first time and Annie sent her a grin.

'Well, then lets say we didn't so when Molly comes up you'll be done for the day, you lot are too young to be cooped up inside cleaning all day anyway.'

The twins whooped and slapped hands before apparating out of the room. Annie rolled her eyes at them but continued to smile anyway, loving their enthusiasm.

'What exactly is it that you do, Annie?' Sirius inquired as the kids left all fanned out around the room.

'Uh, I'm a Magical Creature Expert.' She replied and he quirked an eyebrow at her.

'A what?'

'Well, I classify, research, and take care of a whole range of magical creatures.' She explained and he gave her an incredulous smile.

'Even the dangerous ones?'

'Oh especially the dangerous ones, their my favorite, what's life without a little danger?' she smiled wide and he gave a small chuckle.

'One of my favorite sayings.' He grinned with a wink and a light blush tinged her cheeks.

'How long have you been doing this?' he asked her once the silence had become awkward and she looked over at him in slight surprise at the sound of his voice.

'Oh since I got out of school.'

'Where'd you go to school, I know I would have remembered you from Hogwarts.' He flirted and she gave a small smile and curt nod.

'My mom was an alumni from Beaubaxtons, and she wanted me to go there as well, so when she died, there was enough gold left over for me to go to Beaubaxtons and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.' She explained and he nodded in understanding.

'So you are about my age?' he inquired and she smiled.

'Well that depends, how old are you?'

'Hmm, well, how old do you think I am?'

'You know, I'm not so sure I feel comfortable answering that question.'

'Oh?'

Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Harry watched the exchange between the two adults with rapt attention.

'I'm pretty sure my answer is snippy and unwarranted and I'm also pretty sure that you can outmatch me in a physical sense, so I don't think I want to say.'

'Physical sense huh? How exactly am I supposed to take that one?' he took a step closer to her and she took a hesitant step back, the blush returning as she swallowed, hard.

'Well, how exactly do you want to take that?' she was out of her element here. Sure, she talked a pretty heavy game, and when she was a teenager she had acted out in a sexual way (the therapist said it was her reaction to losing her parents) but now she felt cornered by a beautiful man who was obviously no novice and all her control was slipping away, she just thanked God that the kids were all still in the room.

'Hmm, I dunno, I think I'll have to watch for you the next couple of days.' His breath grazed against her cheek as he leaned into her before leaving the room. She stood, rooted to the spot, her cheeks slashed with color and her breathing shallow and labored.

'Aunt Annie?' asked Ginny softly as she exchanged a look with Harry.

'Hmm?' asked Annie as she turned to her favorite, and only, niece.

'You okay?'

'Yeah, yeah I'm okay.' She let out a long stream of air before following Sirius out of the room, her cheeks on fire.

'I bet you ten galleons that they fall into bed with one another within two weeks.' Offered Ron, turning to Harry. The raven-haired boy stared at his best friend for a moment or two before taking his outstretched hand.

'You're on.'

'I'll take that bet.' Piped up Ginny, putting her hand out as well, which Harry took quickly.

'You're on.'

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Like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think. Read and review babies.

Andrew's Slinky


	3. Chapter 3

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Sorry for the late update, but my place has been crazy, I hope you like it.

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Sirius found Annie and the twins giggling over something that was sure to give Molly a proper heart attack just a few hours later.

'What's so funny?' he asked as he reached the group and they all instantly sobered until they realized who it was.

'Oh, Sirius, mate, it's you,' George sighed in relief, exchanging a mischievous grin with his twin brother and aunt, 'we're just coming up with new inventory.'

'Inventory?' Sirius wasn't so sure that he liked the sound of that.

'For their joke shop.' Annie supplied, meeting the taller man's dark gray gaze and quickly averting her gaze, feeling color rise back up to her cheeks.

'Joke shop? Does Molly know about this?' he asked, knowing the answer, but enjoying the scenario all the same.

'No!' the twins exclaimed in unison, 'She doesn't!'

Their panic was palpable and it startled both adults standing next to them.

'Calm down boys, she won't find out.' Annie tried to soothe her nephews.

'She can't find out, she'd kill us.' Fred entered the conversation.

'Especially since it's Harry's money and not ours.' George nodded wisely.

'What?!' it was Sirius' turn to yell and it took the other three by surprise, Annie even went as far as to take a step back.

'You took money from Harry? Are you going to pay him back?' Annie had a fleeting glimpse of the slightly feral look in Sirius' eyes as he leapt to his Godson's defense and intervened before one of her nephews lost a limb.

'Sirius, calm down.' She placed a gentle and soothing hand on his bicep, leaving it there as she turned to address the twins.

'Did you borrow the money from Harry?' she asked them calmly, completely aware of the fact that Sirius could lung at the twins at any moment.

'It was his Triwizard winnings, he gave it to us, we tried to return it, but he wouldn't let us.'

'Quite adamant really.'

'Yeah, we offered to pay him back.'

'He refused, and who are we to dump perfectly good galleons?'

Annie smirked a bit, trying to hide a giggle as a vein in Sirius' temple throbbed dangerously.

'You took his Triwizard winnings?' he asked the two teenagers and they had the good sense to look slightly abashed but they didn't back down.

'He offered them.'

'Forced them on us, really.'

'And we tried to give them back…'

'He said he'd chuck them if we didn't take them….'

'So we did.'

'Okay you two, go somewhere, but no more taking poisonous things for the Snack boxes, okay?'

'All right.' They disappeared with a crack and Annie finally let a giggle loose, her hand finally falling from Sirius' bicep, and his arm all of the sudden, felt cold.

'It isn't funny.' He grouched, his arms crossing over his muscular chest, trying to shake the cold feeling from his bicep.

'Oh yes it is, stop pouting.' She giggled at him.

'Okay, it's a little funny.' He admitted, chuckling himself.

'I thought you were going to leap on them.'

'Well, they should have explained before telling me that they had taken money from my Godson.' His voice was calmer now, and held a more serious tone to it. Annie stopped giggling at the sight of his face, and how stormy his eyes were. He was thinking about James and Lily, she could tell.

'They'd be proud of how the two of you have connected.' The words had slipped past her lips before she even realized it.

'What?' he seemed as startled at her sentence as she was.

'Lily and James, they'd be proud of you and Harry and all the progress you've made.' She clarified; wishing that she hadn't said anything at all because that stormy look only intensified and she really wished that his charming smile would come back.

'Do you think?' he asked her, a vulnerability to his voice that nearly shattered her heart.

'Yeah I do, don't be such a pansy about it.' She needed their normal routine of bickering to come back; the sharing was starting to make her a little uncomfortable.

'You're a real Ice Queen, you know that?' he snapped in reply and it was her turn to cross her arms over her chest.

'And I'm damn good at it honey.' Was her reply and he smirked at her.

'You know, I thought I had met all the nasty women in the world.'

'Well, it's a little hard to meet a lot of women when you're in prison.'

She had crossed the line on that one, and she knew it the instant the words dropped form her lips and his eyes narrowed considerably.

'You have no right,' he took several steps towards her, making her take steps backwards until her back hit the wall behind her and she was officially trapped, 'to talk about that.'

'Oh? You're the one who made assumptions and judgments, not me.'

He took another step and their bodies molded together, every inch pressed together, _every_ inch.

'I didn't assume anything, I took a shot at your personality and you confirmed it.' His breath whispered across her skin, his exhale her inhale.

'Why're you so close to me?'

He smirked at her, unsettling her and making a thrill travel all the way through her body before settling almost uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.

'It flusters you.'

She felt a small flame of anger swell at his words and it was enough to make that thrill go running for cover. She pushed her hands forward, knocking him backwards and off balance.

'You could never in your life fluster me.' She quipped as she passed him and entered the other room, an air of superiority in her walk.

Never, huh? That sounded like a challenge, and if there was one thing that Sirius could never resist when it came to women, it was a challenge.

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Love it? Hate it? Want more? Review and tell me what you thought.

Andrew's Slinky


	4. Chapter 4

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Hey guys, I'm back. Hope you're all still with me. Read and Review, as always.

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"No, no, no, absolutely not!"

"But Molly…"

Sirius walked in on another fight between Annie and Molly, and it looked like Molly was going to win this one.

"Molly, will you listen to me? She's a part of the Order, and she needs a place a stay, besides, this isn't your house."

"Dammit Annie there are hardly enough clean rooms for the lot of us who live here now, not to mention the members of the Order who need to stay a night or two, let alone a friend of yours that will need to stay a few months."

"A friend of mine?" Annie sounded offended, "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means we can't have a crazed biker chick stalking these halls, we already have you!" Molly let some of her anger leak out and Annie's jaw visibly tightened as a vein in her temple throbbed.

"Okay, first of all, you can insult me all you want, but don't you dare say one nasty comment about Janine, she is the best friend I have ever had, and she was there for me through everything. Second of all, she's a part of the Order and she needs somewhere to stay, so unless you know of somewhere else that she can go, she comes here." And she said it with such finality that Molly spluttered for a moment or two before noticing Sirius trying to sneak back out the door he had come in through.

"Sirius!" she called out to him and he visibly winced but turned back to look at the two angry women.

"Yes?" he asked as he came to stand by them, looking from one to the other in apprehension.

"This is your house, so I suppose we should ask you. Can Annie's friend…"

"And part of the Order." Annie broke in, Molly continued, ignoring her sister-in-law.

"…come and stay here for a while?"

Sirius looked from Molly's foreboding dark eyes to Annie's pretty face, and once again his libido triumphed over his brain.

"Sure she can, we have room, we'll just have to clean one out."

Molly sighed heavily before leaving the room without a sound. Annie watched her leave before looking back over at Sirius, who was smirking at her.

"What?" she asked him, leaning back on one leg to look up at him.

"I just did something nice for you, don't I even get a thank you?"

She surveyed him for a moment or two before returning his smirk.

"You think you deserve a thank you?"

He nodded.

"Okay, okay. Thank you Sirius, I appreciate it." She held out her hand to shake his and he gladly took it, using his leverage to pull her in closer.

"Sirius." She gasped as she stumbled towards him, her free hand coming to rest against his sturdy chest to give herself some leverage.

"I don't even get a thank you hug?" he teased and she glared at him.

"No, you don't." she pulled her hand free and stalked out of the room, an extra sway to her hips just to bother him.

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Just a few hours later Annie was stalking in front of the one fireplace that was connected to the Floo network. (Illegally, of course.) Sirius was leaning against the far wall, watching her.

"You're going to wear a hole in the carpet, you know." He told her matter of factly and she turned, pausing in her steps long enough to flip him off.

"Look, as tempting as that offer is, there are kids in the house, and I don't think Molly would appreciate us having sex in the library."

She paused in her steps again, a slightly shocked look on her face before she groaned and continued pacing, deciding that he wasn't troublesome enough to bother with.

"Of course, we could always magic the doors shut." He mused, a finger to his chin in thought.

She glared at him.

"Please don't tell me that those kind of lines actually work. Are there really women out there who fall for shit like that?"

Sirius looked a little stunned.

"Some." He managed and she rolled her eyes.

"Somehow I truly doubt that."

He smirked at her.

"You don't like me, do you?"

"Stating the obvious, no, I don't."

"Fair enough." He shrugged.

"Well, you don't like me either."

"Nope, no I don't." he shook his head and she gave him a small smile until he crossed the room in only a few steps and had her pinned against the wall. She stared up at him, feeling a strange rollercoaster sensation roll through her stomach.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't like you, you don't like me, but this spark between us isn't just going to go away." He gestured between the two of them, unintentionally grazing the back of his hand against her breast. She gasped, instantly regretting it, because his deep grey eyes darkened and the tightening in her stomach increased.

"What spark? There isn't a spark." It was more like a raging inferno, now that he had truly touched her, the fire was crackling and she'd only known him a few days, something that she was not comfortable with, but couldn't really fight it either.

"Think about it." He whispered.

She needed to put some space between them, fast. But how could she when he was so close, and the only way to get away from him was to brush past him?

"These feelings aren't real, it's lust, transient." She waved her hand to emphasize her point and he chuckled.

"Transient? Oh, no, it's going to take a lot, lot, longer than you think. All night."

She gulped heavily, trying to clear her head.

"Soon." He whispered again, his breath brushing gently across her face and she tried her hardest not to look at him, but their darkened gazes were locked.

The flames in the fireplace roared and turned green before a tall, lithe woman walked out of them. A t-shirt and jeans adorning her frame, her black curls wild and untamed, a cheery grin on her face.

"Annie?" she asked as she entered the room more fully and found her best friend pinned against the wall by a very attractive man that she knew she recognized but couldn't place.

"Janine!" her voice was cheerful, whether it was cheer to see her friend or to have an excuse to get away from the man pinning her against the wall, Janine wasn't sure, but she burst from her place against the wall to reach her friend and hug her.

"Hey Annie, how you doing?" she asked as she hugged her friend.

"I'm good, what about you? Where's your stuff?"

"Oh, uh, Mad-Eye already brought it over, and I'm doing good, doing good. Was I interrupting?"

"No, no. You weren't interrupting." Annie shook her head as she answered quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

"You sure?" asked Janine, looking from her friend to the raven haired man standing by the wall, leaning against it, lust still dancing in his eyes.

"Yeah, c'mon, you're staying with me, I'll show the room." And she dragged her friend out, right past Sirius, without introducing them.

"Annie, who was that?" asked Janine as the pair of them headed up the stairs, arm in arm.

"Oh, that's Sirius, he's Harry's Godfather."

"And gorgeous." Janine replied, looking back down the stairs as though if she concentrated hard enough she could look through the wall and see the fine specimen of a man that was in the library.

"No, and an escaped fugitive." Annie retorted as they made it to the top of the stairs.

"An innocent escaped fugitive, and if I were you, honey, I'd buy a ticket on that ride." Janine smirked as she let her friend lead her down the dusty hallway.

"You know, I do love you sweetie, but I swear, I will kill you." Annie teased as they finally reached her room.

"Ah, just like old times."

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Okay, so I needed to give Annie someone her own age that was a woman, and I know that Tonks is her age, but she's Sirius' cousin, and a little too close for it not to be creepy that she's pushing Annie and Sirius together, so I created a best friend.

Read and Review my lovelies.

Andrew's Slinky


	5. Chapter 5

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It had been several days since the episode in the library and both Annie and Sirius were doing their best to avoid one another, and if they had to be together, they were on opposite ends of the rooms, not speaking. If they were forced to speak to one another, then the conversation was filled with "please" and "thank you" and even though it was never said out loud, everyone else noticed the pair's awkward relationship.

"Hey Annie, you seen my shoes?" Janine burst into their shared bedroom, her feet bare.

"No, where'd you put them when you last took them off?" asked Annie in reply as she kept reading, not even looking up at her friend.

"That's just it, I know I took them off by my bed, but I wake up this morning and they aren't there, so I went looking for them, but I can't find them." She shook her head, dropping to her knees to look under her bed.

"Well then you obviously didn't take them off by your bed, because shoes don't get up and walk off by themselves." Annie retorted sarcastically, still reading and not looking up.

"Unless Kreacher took them." Sirius appeared silently at their open door, a small smile on his face.

Annie looked up at the sound of his voice and had to bite her tongue to keep from retorting as Janine looked up in shock and dismay.

"What?" she asked.

"Yeah, he walks in and out of every room in the house unless you lock the door." Sirius shrugged before leaning against the doorframe.

"Excuse me?" Annie was listening now. "Are you telling me that he comes in here while I'm sleeping?"

"Probably." He replied nonchalantly.

"What?" she retorted, echoing Janine's earlier statement.

"Yeah, if you don't lock the door, he'll come in."

"Thanks for informing me of that, almost two weeks after I get here." Annie had to bite the side of her cheek to keep from shouting.

"Temper Annie, temper." Sirius teased her, noticing her cheek biting technique.

She stuck her tongue out at him then returned promptly to her book, seemingly unphased.

"As much as I liked to stick around for this little love fest, I gotta find my shoes." Janine teased lightly as she passed Sirius in the doorframe, heading back down the stairs to search for her missing heels.

Annie continued to read and tried her best to ignore the man in her doorway, who had yet to move.

"Annie, can I talk to you about something?" he asked her hesitantly and she looked over at him for a moment or two before shrugging.

"Sure, I guess so."

"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened the other day, in the library." He apologized and she tried her best to keep the blush at bay, but wasn't very successful.

"It's okay."

"No, its not. I shouldn't have backed you into a corner like that. I am attracted to you, Annie, quite a bit actually. But that didn't give me any right to make you uncomfortable, and if I did, then I'm sorry."

Annie sighed and hung her head for a moment before replying.

"Thank you, and you're forgiven. I just want you to know that even if I am attracted to you, the fact that you are a complete arse kind of detracts from it."

He gave her a slightly hurt and incredulous look.

"I apologize and you call me an arse?" he asked her in surprise.

"I was only telling the truth as I saw it. You didn't have any right to back me into that corner. It isn't my fault that you've been put away fro so long that you forget how to act around other people." She snapped, looking back down at her book as if to finalize the conversation. But Sirius wasn't done.

"Excuse me but what is your problem?"

"What?" she asked him somewhat innocently as she looked up at his towering frame above her.

"I tried to apologize, I tried to make things better because everyone has noticed how awkward things have gotten. And you turn around and snap at me for no reason." He explained, his fingernails digging in his palms to keep his explosive temper at bay. Annie sighed and marked her place in the book before closing its pages. She stood slowly, and closed the gap between them a little better.

"Look, just because there is some sort of attraction between the two of us, doesn't mean that every manner and civilized thought gets to go out the window. So what if this thing between us isn't transient, so what if whatever it is…" she started to trail off as he just stood there smirking in his muscled glory and she had the vague thought that somehow her tongue had stuck to the roof of her mouth and every coherent thought she had just had flew out the window.

Sirius just continued to look down at her, a smirk on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. Their gazes locked and he knew exactly what was running through her mind. The thing between them, that wasn't transient, had finally caught up to her.

"Stop looking at me like that." She tried to command him, but it didn't come out as forceful as she had wished it would.

"Like what?" he asked her in return. She didn't trust herself to speak so she kept her mouth shut.

"I'll have a little talk with Kreacher, make sure he doesn't have any more midnight wanderings." He smiled at her, placed a soothing, non-threatening hand on her arm, then left.

Annie stood there for a moment or two more before running her fingers through her hair and leaving, muttering about helping Janine find her missing shoes.

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I know, I am totally late with this update, but things got busy and I totally spaced. Please forgive me.

As always, read and review

Andrew's Slinky


	6. Chapter 6

"Stupid, stupid, stupid

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Annie was raging around the kitchen, slamming pots and pans into the sink angrily.

"Hey, what's the matter?" asked Janine as she entered the room, curious as to what all the slamming and swearing was.

"I have lost my wand, I don't know what I did with it." Annie replied, angry.

"You lost it?"

"No, its somewhere in the room, but I dunno." She waved it away as she started to fill the sink up with hot soapy water.

"So you're doing dishes?" Janine asked curiously.

"It relaxes me." Annie growled out, she was frustrated. Frustrated over the stupidity she possessed to lose her own wand and the sexual tension between her and Sirius. She was going crazy being in this house with him, especially since all the kids had gone to school and she was the only member of the Order not already on house arrest that didn't have any kind of mission. She was attracted to Sirius, she wouldn't deny that, at least not to herself, and she knew that he was attracted to her and if she really wanted him to do something about it all she would have to do was ask. Maybe that was what frightened her the most the fact that the absolutely gorgeous man that she was so attracted to was actually in her reach.

"If you say so." Janine responded as she left the room, shaking her head, a little worried for her friend.

"I do say so." Annie growled low as she slammed the final two pots into the sink, grabbed a dishrag and started to scrub. She knew that all she had to do was get Molly or Arthur, or hell even Janine to whip out their wands and do the dishes, but she needed to take her sexual frustration out on something before she went and took it out on someone.

"You do say what?" Sirius appeared in the doorway in nothing more than a pair of jeans and a black beater, his feet bare and his hair pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was covered in a very thin sheen of sweat, and the lights made his muscles glisten, and all of that combined with the many tattoos that trailed their way up and down those muscles, momentarily struck Annie dumb.

"What?" she asked, shaking her head as though to clear it.

"That's what I asked." He smiled lazily at her as he entered the room more fully and quirked a dark eyebrow at her arms, wrist-deep in soapy water.

"Oh," she followed his gaze, "Uh, washing dishes like this relaxes me."

He nodded at her, understanding and letting her return to her fierce scrubbing for just a moment before speaking again.

"You know, scrubbing them like that makes them less effective." His voice held a teasing element to it and she found it annoying her even more than his mere presence already had.

"Oh really, then how do you propose I get them clean?" she inquired, looking over her shoulder at him and instantly wishing she hadn't because while she'd been wallowing in her anger and frustration he had come up close behind her, his bare feet making no sound against the solid floor.

"Well, you have to be more gentle with them." He explained softly, making no further move to get closer to her, which she was thankful for.

"Well, then why don't you show me?" she suggested, but before she could move away from the sink he had closed the space between them and was pressed firmly into her back, his hands traveling slowly down her arms until they met her hands in the water. He gently took a grip on her hands with his own, helping her hold the pot with the left and very slowly started to make lazy circles with the rag in the right.

Annie was trying her best to regulate her breathing but she couldn't quite manage it. The combined effect of his warm body behind her and the heated water on her hands, which was very gently swirling around her wrists, had thrown her for a loop.

"You have to be gentle, sure it takes a little longer, but the end result is worth it." He whispered almost seductively in her ear. She shivered at the feeling, she knew that he was actually talking about cleaning the pot but her sexually frustrated mind and body kept twisting it into the bedroom and she found herself wondering if he made love like that too.

"_Transient? Oh, no, it's going to take a lot, lot, longer than you think. All night."_

Oh boy was she in trouble.

"Do you understand now?" he asked her softly, and she turned her head to look him in the eye.

"I think so, but maybe you should help me with this one just to make sure I've got it right." She answered him hesitantly and he smiled at her, making her knees tremble.

"Okay, here." He tightened his grip on her hand and very gently started to move it in a circular motion once more. Once she had gotten the rhythm down he let go of her hand and started to trail his own up and down her lower arm. His fingers circling her wrist, then trailing softly up her arm up to her elbow, then back down, leaving a trail of hot water in their wake. The cooler air of the room mingled with the water, sending goose bumps along her spine and she stopped the motion of her hand for a moment, as a shiver wracked her body.

"Cold?" Sirius asked her and she could practically _hear_ the smirk on his lips.

"No." she murmured, her mind getting a little fuzzy as her hand resumed its motions almost of its own volition.

"Then why are you shivering?" he asked her, his hands pausing in their ministrations.

"Just the water, that's all." She replied, staring hard down at the pot she was cleaning, trying to keep her mind off the completely delicious man behind her.

"Oh." He pulled his hands out of the water, and set them on her hips, spinning her around to face him.

"Sirius!" she yelped, almost losing her balance as she was spun. She looked up at him in surprise only to see dark, stormy grey eyes looking back at her. His hands left her waist and set on the edge of the counter behind her, trapping her. She looked down at his arms, unable to look at his eyes any longer. She slowly lifted her own wet hands and set them on his muscular forearms. His breath caught at the feeling and she smirked, letting her fingers trace the lines of his tattoos.

Her hands trailed up his arms and he shivered at the new sensation as warm droplets of water trailed down his arms. He continued to stare down at her, his breathing becoming a bit faster and harsher than before.

"Annie." He groaned as she dug her fingernails in just a bit, lightly scratching along his arms. Their eyes caught for a second time and they both were lost.

"Your tattoos are beautiful." She murmured and he smiled sweetly before leaning into her, his lips just millimeters from her own. He didn't make any further moves; he was waiting for her to do it. He was testing her, enticing her to close that gap herself.

Her gaze flickered from his eyes to his lips then back again before she leaned in and closed the gap. When their lips finally crashed together the fireworks that had been working for so long finally exploded. His arms wrapped around her tightly, one hand on her hip, the other coming to wrap around the base of her neck as he pulled her to him. She groaned in the back of her throat as their tongues dueled erotically for dominance. Her hands reached out and released his hair from the ponytail, before burying themselves in it. He had her pressed hard against the countertop, every inch of their bodies pressed together as they kissed.

"Annie?!" Molly's voice echoed throughout the house and the pair entangled in the kitchen broke apart.

"Did you hear that?" Sirius asked, looking down at Annie and feeling a surge of lust go through his body at the sight of her kiss-swollen lips.

"Sounded like Molly." Annie replied as she released her grip on his hair at the same time he released his grip on her.

"Annie! Oh there you are." Molly entered the room and the two at the sink sprang apart.

"What's the matter Molly?" Annie asked quickly, trying to breath as normally as possible.

"They have a mission for you."

--

Phew, another chapter up! I personally like this one best, mostly because it actually gets the plot going. I noticed when I was rereading this fic that all the chappies were mostly single days with sexual tension. And while those are incredibly fun, not very productive to a whole fic. So I hope you like this one.

Read and review babies

Andrew's Slinky


	7. Chapter 7

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--

"So exactly what kind of mission are we talking about?" asked Janine for the third time as she watched Annie dance around the room, packing her things.

"I have to go talk to the vampires, try to get them to help us in the war." Annie replied, tossing another book in her trunk.

"And Sirius is okay with that?" asked Janine wickedly and her question had Annie stopping dead in her tracks.

"What? Why would it matter?"

"Well, the pair of you have been dancing around the fact that you want to jump each other's bones for the entire time that I've been here." Janine smirked and Annie tossed a sweater at her half-heartedly.

"Shut up Janine, we haven't been dancing."

"Yeah right, and judging from the fact that your t-shirt is wet, exactly in the pattern of his hands, I'd say your little dance turned into the horizontal hula." Janine chuckled at her friend's expense and Annie stared at her in open-mouthed shock.

"Well, it might have if Molly hadn't interrupted." Sirius appeared at the doorway, a small smile on his face, but his eyes were dark in an unreadable emotion.

"I knew it!" Janine cheered, looking from her blushing best friend to the man that had somehow managed to capture the blonde's attention.

"Shut up Janine." Annie barked as she busied herself with packing her trunk, trying her best to ignore the raven-haired man in her doorway.

"Well, I'll just leave you two to it." Janine snuck out the doorway, slipping past Sirius with a knowing smirk on her lips.

Annie ignored Sirius, who had entered the room fully and closed the door behind him. She continued to faithfully pack her trunk and tried her best not to think about the kiss they had shared downstairs. It shouldn't have happened.

"So are we going to talk about this or not?"

"Talk about what?" she returned without looking over at him.

"About our kiss."

"I…that shouldn't have happened."

He stared at her in shock for a moment before shaking himself out of it.

"So you kissing me, shouldn't have happened?"

He was playing dirty, and he knew it, but he also didn't care because he still wanted to cross the room, pull her away from her trunk and make out with her fiercely.

"I didn't kiss you, you kissed me." She retorted, knowing that she was lying through her teeth, and not caring, she couldn't be having feelings for this man, it was wrong. He was still on the run, he had to stay in this house, not allowed to go anywhere, and if they were together, where would that leave her? In the room next to his? It wasn't a life she wanted or could handle. She needed to be outside, she needed excitement, she needed a mission.

"Liar."

"I am not lying." She looked over at him and the emotion in his eyes became readable. Hurt.

"Look, I'm not saying that I didn't want to kiss you. I'm not saying that I don't want to cross this room right now and snog you senseless. But it isn't that easy. I have a mission to do, and thinking about you, when I'm supposed to be negotiating with dangerous creatures, it isn't safe."

"That's a cop out and you know it."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't want to admit that you like me, you don't want to admit that the fact that me wanting you just as badly as you wanting me has got you running scared."

"I am not scared."

"Yes you are, you're scared of me."

"I am not scared of you. I'm just…I don't like people, okay? I never really did, and when I lost my parents, it got that much worse. I threw myself into my schooling; I didn't have any friends, except for Janine, and she was the one that bridged that gap, not me. I didn't have anyone because then they couldn't leave me. When I get involved with you, then what? I know all about your school reputation, Sirius, and while I'd like to imagine that you've changed, forgive me for not wanting to take the chance that you'd get bored with me."

She stalked out the door past him, her trunk in hand and Sirius watched her go with a shocked expression on his face.

--

Okay, I know, a little dramatic, but I figure that having her parents die on her would make her a little wary of relationships and people. So I just had her do a little freak out before she goes on her mission, why? Because writing an angsty Sirius is almost as much fun as writing a happy Sirius.

Andrew's Slinky


	8. Chapter 8

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--

Annie had never been one for cold temperatures. She hated the cold with a passion, and she liked nothing better than curling up in front of her fireplace at home with a mug of cocoa and a soft blanket. But she wasn't at home. She didn't have a fireplace or a mug of cocoa or even a soft blanket. She was in Romania, in a one room flat that overlooked a muggy and grey town, constantly blanketed by a thick, and depressing fog. She couldn't seem to get away from it, even in her meetings with the vampires. Because they liked the dark and damp and cold. It was their preferred weather and their preferences were vital to her survival, so she bit her tongue and showed up to every meeting with a heat charm cast on herself, and the most positive attitude that she could muster.

"We could get much better blood from Voldemort," spoke Vladimir, his silky smooth voice almost soothing and yet there was a palpable element of danger that emanated from him. Annie had been around vampires before, she'd spoken to whole covens before also, but never had she met vampires quite like these. They were like something out of an Anne Rice novel, soothing, dark voices and casual good looks, masters in the art of seduction and each and every one of them knew it, they knew how attractive they were and exploited it to the best of their ability.

"Blood is not the issue," interrupted Galina, Vladimir's queen, "power is. Which side gives us more power?"

"So you do not care for the quality of blood?" asked Fiena, the next woman in rank, her deep blue eyes sparkling in Annie's direction.

"Of course I do, I am a vampire after all, but if we have more power then it does not matter who we serve because then we have the freedom for better blood, you see? Who gives us more power?" Galina explained herself and Annie gulped, unsure if she could offer them any power that they didn't already have, and if she couldn't, well, she was in trouble.

"I do not know much about power," Annie started and at the hushed hiss that echoed from Vladimir, she knew she had misspoke, but continued on anyway, praying that he wouldn't lunge across the room and attack her, "but I do know that respect is just as important as power. If you join our side, we will honor any allegiance or promise made to you and your coven. Voldemort will not do this. He will use your powers to gain the control that he wants and then he will ignore any request or any contract that you possess. Please, we need your help, we need you on our side."

--

Sirius had been going insane around Number Twelve Grimmauld Place now that he was alone. He had Molly, sure, and at nights Arthur came around, Remus was there every other two days and Janine was with him almost around the clock, having lost the person she spoke to most as well, but he was still going balmy. He didn't know what to do with himself, at least with Annie around he had started to feel a little more like the old him, the Sirius before the war and death and destruction, he had started to fell seventeen again and he would give anything in the world to get that feeling back. He had missed the laughter, the pure, uninhibited joy that he and his friends had gotten out of life, even the war had started out as a grand adventure. Him and James and Lily had all joined the Order, and it had seemed a wonderful game, until more and more people started dying, and then the Longbottoms, oh, he didn't even want to think about that, because even though he would give anything for James and Lily to be back, he was glad that they were gone and not in the state of Alice and Frank.

"I wish they were here." He spoke aloud to Buckbeak, who nipped his hand affectionately, settling his large head in Sirius' lap. Even if most said that Hippogriff's were not the most intelligent of creatures, Sirius often got the impression that Buckbeak could understand every word that he said to him.

"Wish who was here?" asked Janine as she entered the room, bowed low to Buckbeak, who in turn dipped his head, before sitting next to Sirius on the floor, reaching a hand out to pet the strong back of the animal before her.

"Lily and James." Sirius answered honestly, looking over at the raven-haired beauty and finding himself missing his friends and the fiery blonde Weasley all the more.

"I'm sorry." Janine told him, unsure as to why she was sorry, but she saw the same look in Sirius' eyes that she often saw in Annie's. Survivor's guilt. They had lost loved ones when they themselves could have just as easily been lost.

"So am I, sometimes I wonder what would have happened to us, to Harry, if I hadn't… if I hadn't gone after Peter that afternoon, or told James to switch Secret Keeper's in the first place."

"Even though it may seem like it, it wasn't your fault Sirius. Annie's always telling me that everything happens for a reason, she keeps saying that even though she wonders all the time what would have happened to her if her parents had had the opportunity to raise her, that she wouldn't give up the family that she's found for the family that she barely even knew."

It didn't have that much to do with his situation, and yet those words were the most comforting things he had heard in a long time.

--

"Respect?" echoed Vladimir, his pale slender fingers brought to his strong chin in thought.

"Yes, Voldemort will not hold you in the high esteem that we do, he will use you." Annie reiterated, knowing that if she could build Vladimir against Voldemort then she could get the rest of them, he was the mob boss of the clans of vampires that littered the particular countryside they were on, and whatever side he chose, the rest would come along.

"This seems a satisfactory conclusion." Fiena spoke again, her blue eyes again sparkling over at Annie who had the vague thought that being the only person with a heartbeat in the room might have been a mistake.

"It does indeed. We will retire and speak upon the matter, and then we shall return with our answer." Vladimir spoke with a finality that Annie didn't dare disagree.

"Master, may I?" asked Fiena, not elaborating and Vladimir looked from Fiena to Annie and then back again to the redhead.

"Not yet Fiena, we need to give her an answer."

"Will it matter Master, if I do it before or after?" asked Fiena, her words chosen carefully, but Annie could sense the impatience.

"After, Fiena."

That was the final spoken word as Vladimir took Galina on his arm and exited the room, a surly Fiena on his heels.

"Oh my." Annie sank further down in her chair and decided right then that she was wearing a turtleneck to the meeting tomorrow.

--

So what do you think? Read and review my lovelies.

Andrew's Slinky


	9. Chapter 9

--

--

"After, after, after what?" Annie muttered to herself as she stalked impatiently around the conference room the next day, waiting for the vampires to show, but the sun was still too high in the sky so she had at least twenty minutes before they arrived. She had been driving herself insane trying to figure out what Fiena had meant. Annie was nervous around the vampiress and her sparkly blue eyes that just screamed in a hunger that Annie was sure weren't for anything other than blood.

She continued to pace around, her heart pounding a mile a minute and she knew that wasn't a great idea either, but she couldn't control it, she was starting to panic from the anticipation. She was a woman of action more often than not and sitting around waiting for something to happen to her, whether it was good or bad, was so not her style.

"Annie, good evening." Vladimir appeared in the doorway, looking as sensual as ever and Annie got the sinking feeling that something was wrong.

"Good evening." She greeted appropriately as she sat across the table from the good-looking man.

"We have talked through your proposal throughout the night and most of the morning and have decided that we are going to join your side."

Annie smiled instantly, her heart lifting.

"Really?" she asked, and Vladimir looked at her in a slight anger and an almost affronted manner.

"Yes." He answered her, clearly closing the subject.

"This is wonderful, I thank you for your decision, we'll keep in touch in with you." She closed the conversation and the meeting and as Vladimir swept out of the room, Fiena swept in.

"Can I help you?" Annie asked, the foreboding feeling returning to her as those crystal blue eyes stared at her, flickering from her face to her jugular.

"I hope so." Fiena smiled, showing her elongated fangs and Annie could feel her heart rate speed up, her blood pulsating through her veins.

"Well, what can I do?" she tried to put as much of the room between them as possible, but Fiena was just too fast, she was at her side in an instant.

"Just keep breathing." Fiena murmured before grabbing onto the side of Annie's neck and bending her fangs towards her pulsating bloodline.

--

Janine and Sirius were laughing hysterically as Janine relayed a story from her and Annie's school days.

"And so then she says to me…" Janine choked out between giggles as Sirius tried to calm down as well, "Hostages? I thought you said sausages!"

They burst into even more severe laughter as Bill walked into the kitchen, a few scrolls and plans laden in his muscular arms.

"What's so funny?" he asked as he set the papers down on the opposite end of the table from the pair.

"Oh, just a story about your Aunt, what's up?" asked Janine as she leaned in her seat to get a better look at the papers Bill had.

"Some drawings of a few of the Gringott vaults, just in case." Shrugged the muscular redhead, his blue eyes slightly tired.

"You look like you need a break kiddo, sit down I'll get you a drink." Sirius stood up, setting a hand on the younger man's shoulder and forcing him to sit down on the nearest chair.

"Thanks mate." Bill smiled over his shoulder as Sirius started to fill a glass with water from the sink, trying his best not to think of the kiss he had shared there just a few days ago.

"Have you heard from Aunt Annie lately?" Bill asked Janine as Sirius handed him the glass of water.

"No, she promised to write, but your Aunt has always been a lousy pen pal, even in school." Janine smiled just as a loud shriek pierced the air.

"What the hell?" asked Sirius as he leapt from the table, wand in hand.

Bill and Janine exchanged a worried look before getting up and following Sirius form the table and up the stairs towards the source of the noise.

Annie was at the top of the stairs, wand in hand and a blue-eyed woman across from her. Her shirt was ripped half off of her shoulder and there was blood dripping from her neck, but the wound itself was hidden beneath her hand. The woman across from her had blood trickling from the corner of her lips and a wild light to her eyes.

"What the hell?" asked Janine loudly, distracting Annie just long enough for the woman across from her to try and attack her again.

They tumbled to the floor in a pair of tangled limbs, Annie's wand flying across the floor and blood staining the carpet.

Sirius leapt in, muttering a spell under his breath and the woman went flying down the hall, hitting the far wall at the end and tumbling to the carpet, lying still on the floor, blood still trickling from her lips.

"Annie." Janine hit her knees by her best friend, worry in her eyes as she surveyed the wound after pulling Annie's blood encrusted hand away from it. Bill sucked in a heavy breath behind her.

"Merlin, that woman's a vampire." He looked down the hall towards Fiena, who was still unconscious.

"Bill, I want you to help Janine take care of that woman and send her to the basement, and Janine, you get Molly, she'll know how to heal her."

Both nodded and set off to do their respective duties, Bill sending ropes from the end of his wand to bind Fiena and started off towards the basement, looking over his shoulder to see Sirius pull Annie's fingers off her wounds. Torn flesh and muscle was what met his warm eyes and he instantly knew that cleaning this wound was going to be a bitch.

He set to work on keeping Annie awake and lucid, knowing that letting her pass out was not a good idea.

"Annie, Annie, c'mon luv, look at me. Can you tell me what happened?"

She didn't respond as her eyes slid shut.

"No, no, c'mon pet, look at me. Luv, talk to me and tell me what happened."

"I…I was negotiating."

"Okay."

"And she…she asked Vladimir if she could…"

"Take your time, pet."

"If she could do something, but…wasn't…specific."

"What did you do?" he asked her, a small panic rising in his chest, she had grown on his considerably in the weeks that she had been there and he didn't like the idea of losing her.

"Nothing." She defended. Sirius pressed his own hands against her wound and she hissed in pain but he ignored her protests and merely pressed harder to stem the flow of the sticky red substance.

"And I hadn't meant to tempt her." She attempted to shrug but Sirius shook his head.

"Don't move, that bitch ripped muscle."

"Is she gone?" she asked and Sirius was saved from answering when feet pounded up the stairs and Janine and Molly, both their wands out, walked to the pair of them.

"Annie." Janine kneeled next to Sirius.

"I'm fine, just heal me please." Her voice was much weaker and it made Sirius' heart flop in fear.

"Move, move." Molly ordered as she pushed her way between the brunette and the infamous Marauder, her eyes scanned the bloody mess and she shook her head.

"That needs to be cleaned and then reconstructed overnight. Okay, Janine go into the medicine cabinet downstairs and bring up the darkest and smallest bottle inside, it won't have a label. Sirius take Annie and follow me."

Janine practically ran from the room and took the stairs two at a time. Sirius gently swung Annie into his arms, ignoring the blood that seeped onto his black t-shirt and her moan of protest and followed Molly down the hall.

"Oh, I told Annie these things were dangerous."

Sirius didn't trust himself to say anything as they reached the first inhabitable, and relatively clean room. Sirius' bedroom.

"Quick, you'll have to hold her still, this will hurt." Murmured Molly softly as she pulled a few towels from the adjoining bathroom.

Janine showed only a few seconds later, a small bottle in hand. She passed it over to Molly, who gave her a small smile.

"Why don't you check on Bill, while Sirius and I take care of Annie, all right?"

Janine looked form Molly to Sirius and finally her eyes rested on her best friend and she nodded her head, swallowing the lump in her throat before leaving the room, tears in her eyes.

"Okay, we need to remove her shirt, and you'll have to hold her while I'm cleaning that wound."

Sirius nodded and tried his best to be some semblance of a gentleman and not stare when her shirt was in a pile on his floor and she was left in nothing but a pair of jeans slung low on her hips and a black lace bra.

"Prop her up and hold her tight, whatever you do, don't let go."

Sirius nodded and sat Annie up, sitting on the bed behind her, one arm wrapped around the vicinity of her elbows and the other gently holding her shoulder. He placed one leg onto the bed, and the other bent at the knee to hold her legs down. She moaned in pain but melted into his warm arms anyway. Her face turning away from her wound and burying into the crook of his neck.

Molly dampened a cloth with the thick purple liquid that oozed from the bottle and gently placed it on Annie's open wound. Annie hissed in pain, barely suppressing a scream, and leaned even further into Sirius. Sirius tried his best to keep her clam by rubbing her good arm and making soothing sounds.

When Molly pressed harder Annie jumped and pressed even harder herself into Sirius' chest, doing her best in her now unconscious state to get away from the source of her pain.

"Stay calm luv, its almost over." He whispered to her and he was so preoccupied with comforting the woman in his arms that he missed Molly's glare at his pet name for the blonde.

"Almost over Annie." Murmured Molly as she started to bandage her sister-in-law's shoulder. The unconscious blonde moaned before finally succumbing completely to the darkness around her as Molly finished her work and the waves of pain and nausea started to calm.

"As long as it stays clean and the instant she wakes up she gets some fluids, she'll be just fine." Molly assured Sirius who looked just as ashen as the blonde in his arms, whom he had still not let go of.

"You're sure?" he asked as he gently let her lay back on his bed, pulling an extra blanket to cover her body for some modesty.

"Yes, c'mon, lets make sure that Janine and Bill are all right, I'll leave a charm in the room so we can hear when she wakes up." Molly soothed as she cast her charm before ushering Sirius out the door, as he sent one last look over his shoulder at the bloody and bruised blonde on his bed.

--

Long chappie, but I like it, and I couldn't just let her go to talk to vampires and not have something happen, it was just too hard to resist.

Read and review my lovelies

Andrew's Slinky


	10. Chapter 10

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Annie was perfectly content to stay in her dark unconscious world, but a familiar voice was slowly dragging her out of it, and all the pain and chills came flooding back in full force and it took all her will power not to scream.

"Ow." She whispered, attempting to roll onto her side and away from the source of her pain but there was a pair of hands holding her still.

"Annie, you've got a fever, I need you to stay still so that Molly can give you some medicine."

That was Janine's voice, she was sure of it, but the hands on her, they were much too masculine to be her friend's.

"Sirius, prop her up will you?"

That was Molly, was the vague thought through her still foggy mind as she felt her upper body lift into the air before settling against a warm and sturdy chest. Her stormy eyes blinked open and were instantly slammed shut when a bright and unforgiving light assaulted them.

"Open your mouth Annie, c'mon pet, you've got to drink this." There was a vial at her lips and that had been Sirius' voice, if she had the strength she would have told him off for calling her pet, but as it was she merely moaned in protest as the liquid started trickling down her throat. It was disgusting.

"I know its gross, dear, but please keep drinking." That was Remus' voice and she felt a hand run through her hair. She attempted a soft smile, but her lips were so cracked and dry that she couldn't move them. So she simply swallowed the offensive liquid and was rewarded with a glass of water.

When she got down as much liquid as she could, she started to feel the darkness overwhelm her again. She attempted to stay awake, but the pull of the painless bliss was too much and she succumbed.

"She's out cold again." Sirius commented as he gently laid her back against the pillows, the bags under his eyes telling of how little sleep and massive stress he had received in the past couple of days.

"C'mon mate, lets get a drink." Remus suggested, and he could tell that Sirius wanted to stay, he wanted to lay right back down on the floor and wait for Annie to wake up, but he'd done that enough, he needed a break.

"No thanks Moony, I'll be all right."

"Sirius, c'mon." he wrapped a hand around his best mate's shoulder and steered him from the room. He went relatively quietly and as soon as the drinks were poured Janine entered the kitchen.

"Hi boys." She greeted, pouring herself a glass of Firewhiskey and downing it all in one shot.

"Janine, take it easy." Remus pulled the bottle of alcohol out of her reach.

"How can I take it easy? Annie is up there in severe pain and she could have died. And to top it all off we're not even allowed to punish that stupid bitch down in the basement because we might undo all the work that Annie did with the coven and then she'd kill us when she wakes up." Janine shot back without hesitation, snatching the bottle out of his grasp and pouring herself another shot.

Remus merely sighed and left the bottle where it was, they needed some form of comfort, and this was the closest thing.

"She's going to be all right, you said so yourself that Annie was a fighter." He attempted to comfort her again, but he knew it was falling on deaf ears.

"She is a fighter, she always has been, but this, how do you fight this?"

"She'll find a way, if she's as big a fighter as you say, and as I know that she is, she'll find a way to beat it." Sirius spoke up for the first time and Janine smiled at him, glad that someone else understood to some extent what she was going through.

--

"Eww, ow, eww, ow, eww." It was almost a mantra of pain and disgust as Annie slowly came down the stairs, a large white bandage on her shoulder that was starting to get stained a sickly bloody pink. Annie winced as she finally hit the foyer floor and headed towards the kitchen, she knew that Molly or Sirius or Janine or even Bill would have brought her a glass of water if she had asked, but being feeble and not able to take care of herself was not something she was comfortable with and not something that she could handle.

She leaned heavily against the wooden door and let her weight swing it open, she stumbled into the kitchen and stood against the wall, hitting it with an ungraceful thud as she started to lose her balance.

"Annie!" that was a voice she recognized but the room was spinning just a bit too much for her to be sure of who it was.

"Molly, Annie's awake!" it was Sirius's voice and those were his hands gripping her arms.

"Annie, what the hell are you doing down here?" he asked her angrily as he helped her sit at the table.

"Water." She replied, her throat too dry for any further conversation. He nodded and retrieved her glass of water, handing it to her.

"Here pet, you came down here for a glass of water? Why didn't you ask for help?" he questioned her, kneeling at her feet as she drained her glass.

"I can take care of myself." She whispered in return and he leaned in closer, a smirk on his face.

"I know you can sweetheart but you're hurt, you need to take it easy for a while." His hand came to rest on her knee and she tried to ignore how good it felt when his thumb started making lazy circles on the inner corner of her knee.

"Sirius…"

"Annie! What on earth are you doing down here?" Molly burst into the room, fear and shock on her face.

"I'm okay Molly, I promise." She replied softly, her throat still screaming.

"Let me see." She waved away Sirius, who took a step back slowly, and then reached out to pull away Annie's bandage. Sirius hissed as he got a look at the wound, and the muscle that was still peeking through the skin.

"Well, its much better, we'll have to apply more potion, regrowing skin and muscle takes a long time, but it'll happen." Molly soothed as Annie gripped the table in pain.

"What happened Annie? You went for meetings, why did she attack you?" Sirius asked the question that had been nagging him ever since Annie had tumbled into the house with that woman on her heels.

"Her names Fiena, and I don't know. I was there for meetings, they were going well, they had agreed to fight on our side, but then, I don't know. She stayed behind on the last day and just came at me, I fought her off the best I could, and then I figured if I apparate here, I could get away from her, but she grabbed on to me as far as I can make out. Then…where is she?"

"The basement, we put her in quarantine down there."

"That's all you did?"

"Yeah, we figured we'd wait until you woke up and told us what happened before we dealt with her."

"We can't do anything to her, we have to send her back, I mean, I just got them to agree to help us, if we do something to her in retaliation then they might not help us, we can't afford that in the long run." She told him, her voice a little stronger, but not much and she hissed in pain when Molly put more potion on her shoulder.

"We can't just ignore what she did."

"We can and we will, now I would like to kick her ass just as much as you would, but we can't, we have to think of Harry, and Ron and Ginny and Hermione, and Janine and Remus and all the people we love and the battle that is going to come. We need their help, Sirius, we need it, we can't do this on our own."

"We did the last time."

"The last time Lily and James were murdered as they tried to protect their son, who just happened to vanquish Voldemort and not even he knows why. We did nothing last time."

Sirius stood looking at her for a moment or two before leaving the kitchen in a huff.

"Annie, don't get so worked up." Molly admonished. Annie just sighed, her shoulder throbbing and leaned further into her chair, unsure of why she was so unreceptive to the fact that Sirius seemed to want to protect her.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

--

So, like? Hate? Tell me. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

Andrew's Slinky


	11. Chapter 11

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Annie had been in bed for over a week now, and neither she nor Sirius had attempted to patch up the tear in their relationship. They hadn't talked since Sirius had stormed out of the kitchen and despite herself; Annie found that she was starting to miss their banter. She was starting to miss the flash of his eyes and that quirk of his lips when he managed to get her to talk herself into a corner. She was also starting to miss her sanity. She never got this worked up over a guy, never. She couldn't understand why Sirius got her so turned around and she also couldn't figure out why she was so damn determined to resist his charm.

"Hey Annie, how you doing?" Remus entered the room, a small smile on his face.

"Okay, tired of being in this bed for so long, but what are you going to do?" she shrugged, and there was only a small bout of pain, most of the muscle and skin had grown back, she only had a small gauze pad covering her wound now.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay, Molly says you'll be able to get out of bed in another couple of days."

"Days?" she sounded scandalized as she flopped against the pillows, "I don't think I can last another couple of days in here Remus, I'm going absolutely bonkers."

"You look and sound pretty sane to me." He smiled at her and she giggled.

"Yeah, how's Sirius doing?" she tried to sound nonchalant but Remus saw right through her.

"You mean since you slammed him for not doing anything over James and Lily's death?" he asked her and she winced.

"That isn't what I meant, I meant that none of us did anything to stop Voldemort, that Harry was the one who…ugh, I mean, oh I don't know what I mean, I was upset and dizzy from blood loss and I didn't mean to sound insensitive or to make him feel like he was the one who killed his best friends, that wasn't what I meant."

"I know, Sirius is just very tender when the subject of Lily and James is brought up."

"Yeah, they'd be proud of him though, with all he's been through, he should have broken so long ago, and yet there he is, standing strong, doing what he has to in order to protect Harry and make him happy, isn't that what they died for? Isn't that why they fought so hard? To make Harry happy, to protect him? They'd love all the progress the pair of them has made."

"Yeah, but try telling Sirius that, he just thinks that they were taken away much too early, and he's right, but there are some things that you just can't change."

Annie nodded, sensing the unfamiliar prickle of tears at the back of her eyes.

"I know what its like to want to. To beg God or Merlin, or whoever's out there to bring back the person you love, to make it right again. Survivor's guilt's a bitch."

Remus smiled at her and sighed.

"Maybe you should tell Sirius this."

"Maybe, but I doubt he'd want to listen."

"Try him, he can be surprisingly forgiving if you just try." And with that Remus left the room, leaving Annie alone with her thoughts, something that anyone who had done it before would not recommend.

--

Annie was out of bed the next morning, she had showered and changed her clothes and she looked just as healthy and normal as she had the day she had left for her mission. She came downstairs by herself and didn't have a mantra of ow or eww and managed to get herself a glass of water without passing out. Then she set off to find Sirius and explain herself.

She looked around the entire upstairs and couldn't find him, she looked through the kitchen and the living room, the rec room and a few of the downstairs bedrooms before she finally found him in the library, a fire roaring in the fireplace and a book on his lap.

"Hey." She called quietly into the room, trying not to startle him. He looked up from his book and she could see the anger sparking in his eyes but he didn't tell her to leave so she came all the way into the room and even went so far as to sit on the same couch. He looked over at her like she had three heads, but she didn't acknowledge it, if she was going to get her story out, then she couldn't look at him.

"I was six."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I was six when my parents were killed. My parents were downstairs in the kitchen, they were making dinner and I was in my bedroom playing with the doll I had gotten for my birthday. I named her Mrs. Doolittle. Anyway, I was upstairs and I heard screaming, and there were flashes of light. Spells. My parents were fighting the best that they could, but there were Deatheaters everywhere. I was standing at the top of the stairs, holding Mrs. Doolittle in my arms, screaming, but no one noticed me. My dad went first, he was blocking my mother with his own body, he had lost his wand. Mother went next, I can still remember her calling out to my father, she was screaming for him to get up when she herself fell. I had been stricken silent and then the Deatheaters sent up their mark, and said some spell I still can't remember and the house started to disintegrate before my eyes. Until there I was at six-years-old standing at the top of the stairs with Mrs. Doolittle in my arms and my parent's dead bodies at my feet. The entire house was rubble. There was smoke, or dust, or ash, I don't really know, but it was everywhere. I remember thinking that I was the only one left on the entire planet. That's what it looked like; I was standing on the ruins of the earth with nothing more than my doll. That's all I remember of that day."

Sirius continued to stare at her, his book forgotten.

"Why did you tell me that?" he asked her, wondering why it was she had chosen now to divulge her worst memory.

"I need you to understand that I wasn't blaming you for Lily and James's deaths. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that no one was able to stop Voldemort, and while that wasn't how I meant it, I understand why you took it that way. When someone we love dies we always feel like there was something we could have done. Survivor's guilt will kill you if you let it."

He continued to stare at her and then he said something she wasn't expecting.

"What if I want it to kill me?"

"What?" she asked, fear gripping her heart.

"I was this pureblood kid with a manic family and James didn't care. He just thought I was a cool kid. He was my friend because he liked me, not my family's money or their influence. And when my own family wouldn't take me, he did, he and his family opened their home to me without a second thought, or an unkind word. They were everything to me. They were my family, he was my brother, and I can't live like this."

"I know. I know that losing family will destroy you, but you have to fight it. James would not want you to destroy yourself like this, he'd want you to watch out for Harry, to watch out for yourself, for the cause that he died for, he'd want you to act like his brother."

Sirius continued to stare at her, and Annie continued to stare at him, their tears flowing freely now, and in that moment their entire relationship changed.

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	12. Chapter 12

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"You and Sirius seem to be getting along smashingly." Teased Janine just a few days later, a wide smile on her lips at the sight of her best friend's face.

"I guess so, he's not so bad." Annie shrugged and Janine laughed.

"You mean he doesn't look so bad."

"Will you shut up, we're not like that."

"Uh-huh, and how bad have you been dying to kiss him since you got back?" asked Janine, seeing right through her friend's lie. Annie scuffed the front of her shoe against the floor, looking anywhere but at her friend's expectant smirk.

"Well?"

"Okay, maybe a little."

"I knew it." Janine cheered.

"Knew what?" asked Sirius as he entered the room, bandages and some disinfectant in his hands.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Annie replied quickly before Janine had a chance to open her fat mouth. The brunette merely stuck her tongue out before bouncing towards the exit.

"Whatever, I can see when I'm not wanted, I'll talk to you later, Annie, always a pleasure Sirius." She said her goodbyes and Sirius watched her go with amusement.

"I will never understand her." He shook his head as he entered the room more fully and sat next to Annie, who just shrugged with a small wince.

"I've known her since I was eleven and I still don't." she revealed and Sirius chuckled.

"That's okay, the two of you seem to get along ridiculously well, I don't think that I've heard you two say a cross word the entire time you've been here." He told her as he peeled off her old bandage and started to clean her small wound before putting a fresh bandage on.

"Yeah, well half of the time I've been here, either she wasn't, or I was unconscious or in Romania."

She chuckled with him this time.

"That's true." He nodded, taping down the edges of the bandage and letting his hands linger on her skin a little longer than entirely necessary.

"Did you know that I couldn't successfully do a spell until I was thirteen? I always seemed to mess things up." She told him out of the blue as he started towards the exit. He paused and looked over at her.

"What?" he asked.

"I couldn't, isn't that ridiculous? My teachers just chalked it up to my parent's death, but the truth was that I never studied." She nodded and he came back over to sit next to her.

"Did you like Beaubaxtons?" he asked her and she smiled.

"Best years of my life, Janine and I raised hell."

"Sounds like me and James, we were always in trouble for something."

"Well, we never really got caught, and when we did, we always managed to talk our way out of it." Annie smiled and so did he.

"That also sounds familiar."

Annie didn't know why she had told him that, she wasn't entirely sure why she had said anything at all, he had been about to leave, she wasn't going to have to deal with him, and yet she called him back into the room. She shared with him. She never shared with anyone except for Janine, and sometimes Arthur, but only when she was forced. She couldn't quite figure out why she was talking to him about her past willingly, and she also couldn't quite figure out why it didn't bother her like it really should.

"Tell me about Hogwarts."

"It was my home, for seven blissful years, it was home for me, and when I turned sixteen I ran away from this house and from my parents and their pureblood mania, and my uncle gave me some money for an apartment, but more often than not I stayed over at James' and his parents accepted me as their own son. I never thought that I'd be stuck here again."

"Worst nightmare?" she asked him and he nodded.

"Not the worst, but its definitely top ten."

"Do you know my worst nightmare?" she asked him and he looked over at her, shaking his head.

"No, what is it?"

She sighed and bit her lower lip for a moment before deciding that she really did want to tell him.

"That someday I'll wake up and be no better than the people that killed my parents. That I'll become so jaded and sardonic that it won't matter anymore if I belong to the Order of the Phoenix or not," she shrugged, "My worst nightmare is that I'll lose hope."

Sirius sat next to her and watched her through slightly narrowed eyes. He knew that everyone had a softer side to them, whether it was a soft side for a pet or a family member, or for their job, it didn't matter, they all had them, but it was still a bit disconcerting to see Annie's.

"You won't." he told her and she looked over at him, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"How do you know that?"

"Well, you live here, where the headquarters are, where the kids will come back to during the holidays, they're the hope you're looking for."

Annie smiled and leaned gently into his side.

"I know you're right, but it's still my worst fear."

He wrapped a gentle and non-assuming arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him for support.

"Hey you two." Molly appeared in the doorway, looking nonplussed at the pair's position but not commenting on it.

"Hey Molly." Greeted Annie as she got out of Sirius' grasp.

"What's up?" asked Sirius, ignoring the fact that he got colder without Annie close.

"Lunch is ready, c'mon downstairs and get some before its all gone." She gave them a soft smile that was readily returned as the pair got up and headed downstairs with the Weasley family matriarch.

Bill, Remus, Arthur, Janine and Tonks were all sitting at the table, lunch before them, chatting about insignificant things when the other three entered the room. Annie took a seat between Tonks and Remus as Sirius sat to the left of Bill, letting Molly sit by her husband.

"Hey Annie." Greeted Tonks, the two women having not seen each other since before Annie's attack.

"Hey Tonks, how's the Ministry?" asked Annie politely as she grabbed a sandwich.

"Boring, and full of people who have their heads so far up their own arses that it's ridiculous." Tonks replied, her hair becoming darker at the roots and Annie laughed.

"That's how I always thought of it." She replied and it was Tonks's turn to laugh.

"So what did you guys end up doing with that vampire?" she asked when she had stopped laughing. Annie shrugged.

"We sent her back to Romania, Vladimir wasn't too happy, so I don't know if he's going to keep his side of the agreement or not."

"He'll have to, didn't he sign a contract?" asked Sirius, a dark look to his face.

"No, we didn't get that far. I don't know, maybe we'll get lucky." She shrugged again and Sirius tactfully changed the subject.

"So who has plans for Christmas?" he asked, knowing that it was just a few short weeks until the holiday.

"Well, the kids are coming back here, so we'll be staying with you Sirius." Molly told him and Janine smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be here too." She supplied.

"Me too." Annie nodded, but Tonks and Remus both shrugged.

"I won't be here."

"I won't be here."

They replied in unison, and the entire table was silent as the pair both blushed and looked away.

"That was weird." Bill remarked off handedly and Annie laughed.

"That was awesome."

"Well, I might not be here, either."

"Why not?" asked Sirius, looking over his shoulder at the younger man.

"Gringotts might need me, there have been some attempted break-ins and they might need a curse breaker." He nodded, taking a sip of his water.

"Well that sucks, anyone hear from Charlie?" replied Annie, looking over at her sister-in-law, who just shook her head.

"No, he's still off in Romania, dealing with dragons," she sighed, "I hope he's all right."

"I'm sure he is Molly, he's a Weasley, he'll be just fine." Annie reassured her and for the first time in a long time Molly and Annie smiled at one another, finding a common ground. Sirius watched the interactions around the table and it hit him that he had never realized exactly what was missing until Annie had appeared in the picture. She was smart and independent and loyal. She fought for her family and her friends and her honor, and she was going to be one hell of an addition in the war.

Annie looked over and caught Sirius watching her.

"What?" she asked him, all of a sudden feeling very self-conscious.

"Nothing." He shook his head and gave her a soft smile that she returned, glad that their relationship was easier for her to deal with. She broke his gaze and looked around the room, her eyes landing on the sink. She blushed bright red and looked down, wishing that she hadn't thought of the kiss that had been shared there, and the fact that she was looking back on that memory with a lot more fondness than she expected.

--

Okay, personally, I think this chapter sucks. I just couldn't seem to get it to turn out right, I guess that it has some good Sirius/Annie action, but I dunno. So if you agree that it sucks, please tell me, and maybe give me some suggestions so that I can fix it. Thanks.

Andrew's Slinky


	13. Chapter 13

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Ignoring the distastefully obvious sucky-ness of the previous chapter I forged on with this latest installment and hopefully haven't lost too many fans in the process.

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Looking back she knew that she was an idiot to return to the sink; to the scene of the original crime. To a pile of dishes at midnight that needed to be washed and delving in hands first, wand left on the table. She was an idiot not to change out of her nightclothes, to be standing in the drafty kitchen in nothing more than a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

But she stood in front of the sink, up to the elbows in soapy water and her bare feet freezing against the stone floor. She scrubbed at the dishes, attempting to rid herself of the prickly feeling at the base of her spine. She knew that the images flashing in her mind were only a dream. They hadn't been real, but they still held some sort of voodoo fascination for her and she couldn't banish them. Until the door to the kitchen opened and Sirius appeared, still in his day clothes, bags under his eyes, giving him the same gaunt look he had had coming out of Azkaban.

"Sirius." She breathed and then winced when she realized her mistake. He wouldn't have seen her in the dark if she hadn't said anything, the fire being their only light, and she could have completely avoided his dark grey gaze that stuck her frozen feet to the floor. He wouldn't give her that slow, lazy smile that made her spine tingle for entirely different reasons. _But, _a small voice in her head contradicted, _you never do anything without meaning to. You wanted him to see you._ Maybe she did. Maybe she liked the attention, whether it was just for the attention's sake or for the man that was giving it to her she still wasn't entirely sure, but she wasn't going to attempt to figure it out right now, not when there were so many more interesting things that she could be doing at the moment.

"Hey Annie, what're you doing up?" he questioned her, coming to lean against the counter space next to her, that grin still on his face.

"Washing dishes and avoiding my nightmares." She answered honestly and his grin faltered.

"How bad are they?"

"What?" she asked, not sure of what he was talking about, having gotten lost in her own thoughts of how sexy he looked leaning against that counter.

"How bad were the nightmares?"

"Oh, they're nothing. Really, it's the same almost every night. You get used to them, but sometimes they're particularly bad." She shrugged, trying to play it off but he wasn't buying it. He scooted closer to her and she did her best to ignore his warmth curling through the air to entice her.

"You want to talk about it?"

She smiled at the sincerity in his question and shook her head, continuing to scrub over enthusiastically at the pot in her hand.

"That's okay, I can handle it."

"You don't always have to be the strong one, you know." He told her somewhat teasingly and she smiled sadly at him, looking up at him, because even leaning towards her he was still considerably taller.

"Yes I do." She whispered in answer and he returned the sad smile, one hand reaching out to graze her slightly exposed hip bone and her eyes drifted shut as his warmth spread through her body.

"Annie…I…"

He didn't finish the sentence. Whether he could have or not was debatable, but he was never given the chance. Annie had abandoned her dishes and currently had her hands fisted tightly in Sirius' thick black hair and her lips had crashed onto his own. He was staggered for a moment or two before returning the unwarranted but not unwanted attention.

Their tongues dueled for a dominance that neither was ever going to really have. Sirius' hand snaked around her waist and pressed flat against her spine, pushing her even further into his body, she moaned but the sound was lost in his mouth and he found himself instantly hard at the way that she melted into him, soft, pliable, so unlike the woman he thought she was. Annie was harder, harsh even, not soft and certainly not pliable, but at the feeling of her lips against his and her body melting into his own muscular physique he forgot everything he thought he knew about the woman in his arms and just explored the woman that she had suddenly become. His other hand fisted in her hair for a moment or two before leaving and trailing down the side of her neck, along the smooth expanse of shoulder and down her arm, brushing faintly against her side before curving around her body to grab her ass and haul her up towards him, his other hand joining in and lifting her onto the counter that he had been leaning against just moments before. He didn't break the kiss though, and he damned the fact that in a few seconds he was going to need to breath. She seemed to be thinking along the same lines because just seconds later she broke away, gasping for some much needed air.

She made a sound somewhere between a groan and his name and Sirius found himself unable to stop touching her. He kissed her neck, her collarbone, and her exposed shoulder before returning to her neck, and more precisely her pulse point. He sucked on it lightly, biting down with blunt teeth gently and she gasped, her back arching, giving him better access. Her hands left his hair and traveled along his muscular back, her mind taking delight in the way his muscles quivered as she touched them. His lips grazed her collarbone again before taking possession of her earlobe and she groaned again, her fingers digging into his shoulders. She was encouraging him to continue, knowing that if she stopped him then she'd regret it later, she may not understand what drew her so forcefully to the man in her arms but at the moment she really did not care.

A loud and very discernable _click _interrupted their make-out session as Annie pulled back and questioned,

"What was that?"

"I didn't hear anything." Sirius murmured in reply, his voice as dark and smooth as black velvet and Annie was just about to melt right back into his kiss when she heard it again.

"Okay, you had to have heard it that time." She told him, her fingers still digging into his shoulders, but for a different reason than lust.

"Yeah, I did." He answered, his hands dropping down to rest in her lap. She shivered.

"What the hell was it?"

"Dunno."

The click resounded for the third time and Annie hopped down from the counter, pushing Sirius back and away. He allowed her the space she silently requested as she stalked around in the firelight, looking for the source of their interruption. She found it leaning against one of the chairs. It was a clock. Molly's clock. The clock that told her of her family's health conditions.

"Hate…damn…always interrupting…bloody clock…" was all that Sirius was able to discern of Annie's murmurings but he smiled at them anyway, knowing that she was just as pissed off as he was that they had been stopped when her face drained of all color.

"Annie?"

She didn't answer; she merely stared down at the clock, her breath seemingly stolen.

"Annie, luv, what is it?" he questioned her, taking a step or two closer when there was a bellow from the top of the stairs.

"ANNIE!" it was Molly and the panic in her voice was palpable. Annie let the clock fall to the table and rushed out into the foyer, Sirius on her heels as his mother's portrait started screaming obscenities.

"Molly, what is it? What happened to Arthur?" the blonde questioned immediately, not pausing for any sort of explanation, and Sirius could only assume that the clock's ticking had to do with Arthur's particular hand and the fact that it was no longer pointing on perfect health.

"Dumbledore's just contacted me, I want you and Sirius to stay here, the children are coming, I'll tell you more when I know more." And with that she Apparated. Annie stood in the hallway, completely flabbergasted and if Sirius hadn't placed a hand on her shoulder she would have forgotten he was there.

"What happened, luv?" he questioned and she shrugged.

"I dunno, we better wait for the kids." She returned to the kitchen and instantly went back to scrubbing the dishes and he knew better than to interrupt her this time. He just sat at the table, lit the two candles sitting in the middle to give them a bit better light, and watched the petite woman out of the corner of his eye to make sure that if she was going to breakdown that he'd be there to catch her if she fell.

A group of figures suddenly appeared in the room, just behind Kreacher who looked over his shoulder in contempt.

"Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying…?" the house elf sounded almost gleeful at the last part of his sentence and before Annie could reach her wand to curse him into the next millennia, Sirius stepped in.

"OUT!" he roared, physically removing Kreacher from the room before hurrying towards the kids.

"What's going on?" he asked, wondering if they had any more answers as he held out a hand to help Ginny up.

"Ask Harry." Stated Fred and Annie got a sickening feeling in her stomach as Harry recounted his vision or dream or whatever it had been. She stayed to the shadows, knowing that the presence of another Weasley wouldn't help the poor boy, he seemed to be reluctant to tell them something else, something that was seemingly important but she didn't want to push him.

"Is Mum here?" said Fred, turning towards Sirius. Annie intercepted.

"She Apparated out, I'm assuming to talk to Dumbledore."

"Aunt Annie!" the four Weasley children thundered as one as they all came rushing towards her in a mob mentality. Ginny enveloping her in a hug and the twins each wrapped an arm around her as Ron placed a caring hand on Ginny's back.

They were all babbling away at once, wanting to know anything that they could about their father's injuries and status but for once in her life the blonde bombshell had no answers.

"I don't know anything more than the four of you, your mother should contact us soon." She had hoped to soothe them, but it didn't work.

"We've got to get to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently before looking around at her brothers, "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything?"

"Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" said Sirius, taking over the situation.

"Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," stated Fred indignantly, "he's our dad!"

"And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"

"What does that matter?" said George hotly, his ears turning red.

"Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's…"

"We don't care about the dumb Order!" thundered Fred.

"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" shouted George.

"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" said Sirius angrily in his turn. "This is how it is-this is why you're not in the Order-you don't understand-there are things worth dying for!"

"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" bellowed Fred. "I don't see you risking your neck!"

Annie jumped in before Sirius did something drastic.

"Frederick Weasley, you watch your tongue!" she snapped at her nephew icily, reaching out and placing a calming hand on his arm. "I know you're upset, but that is no reason to attack anyone here, we're all family. Now I know you're scared, but Sirius is right, you can't go tearing off in the middle of the night to St. Mungo's. Okay?"

He didn't say anything, but it was obvious by his sullen expression that he didn't believe a word she had just said.

"Fred, you listen to me," she placed both hands on his shoulders but he wouldn't look at her. She shook him. "Listen to me! You're scared, we all are, but the best thing you can do right now is to stay here with your family and be strong, okay? We have to wait for word from your mum."

He still looked sullen but nodded and even went so far as to sit down. His siblings soon following suit, along with Harry.

"That's right," said Sirius encouragingly, "come on, let's all…let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer."

He raised his wand as he spoke and seven bottles came flying toward them out of the pantry, landing neatly on the table in front of them all, except for Annie. She had taken up residence in front of the still crackling fireplace. Sirius grabbed hers and handed it to her. She took it with a small smile and they all drank, for a while the only sound was the bottles clinking off the table periodically. Annie knew that they were all drinking only to have something to do with their hands, have something to keep them somewhat occupied so that they couldn't think about the worst. But she was. She was thinking about the worst, and it finally hit her that she could really lose her brother. The one stable thing in her life, he could be taken away.

"I just heard, any news?" Janine came bursting in through the door, robe on, obviously coming from her own mission, her eyes and hair wild as she surveyed the grave expressions.

"No, no news yet." Sirius shook his head, voicing what the others couldn't bring themselves to say. A burst of fire midair illuminated the table and as the occupants of the room gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, along with a single golden phoenix tail feather.

"Fawkes!" said Sirius at once, grabbing the scroll and looking down at it, "That isn't Dumbledore's handwriting, it must be your mum's." he handed the scroll off to George who ripped it open impatiently before reading the message inside aloud.

"Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."

George looked around the table.

"Still alive…" he said slowly as if trying to comprehend. "But that makes it sound…"

He didn't finish.

Crash!

The sound of glass hitting the stone floor echoed throughout the room and all eyes spun to Annie who stood by the fireplace, staring, shocked, down at the shards of glass and butterbeer staining the floor. She looked at her hand as it continued to shake. Then she looked up to see the gazes that had landed on her and she knew that she had to be the strong one.

"Ha…getting old, my hands don't work the way their supposed to." It was a weak lie, but no one said a word as she looked down at her still shaking hand and shook it out as thought to fix it. It didn't work.

"Here Annie, don't move till I get all the glass up, okay?" stated Sirius softly as he muttered a spell to remove the glass from around Annie's bare feet. He cleaned up the butterbeer next and she smiled sweetly at him, her eyes empty.

"My hand won't stop shaking."

She sounded confused and the entire room's silence got that much more deafening as the remaining Weasley's all looked away, giving their aunt the privacy that she obviously needed.

"I know, that's okay." Sirius told her as he took a step closer; enveloping her small shaking hands with his much larger, steady ones. She continued to smile, but her eyes weren't there and she stared vacantly at the man before her like a porcelain doll on a shelf. Sirius just continued to stand with her, her hand remaining in his. After five minutes or so she seemed to be back to her old self, realizing that she had slipped she attempted to say something, but no sound came out.

Sirius suggested that they head off to bed, but at the looks of disgust he quieted, having no real conviction in his idea in the first place. They mostly sat in silence, speaking only to check the time, and to reassure one another that everything was going to be fine.

Fred started to fall asleep, Ginny not far behind, Ron had his head hidden from view and Sirius continued to grasp Annie's hand as her legs started to weaken and she leaned into his side for support.

And then, at ten past five in the morning, Molly entered the room. She was extremely pale and at the sight of her, Annie instantly stood ram rod straight, taking a step towards her sister-in-law, who merely gave her a wan smile.

"He's going to be all right." She said, her voice weak and Annie didn't hear anything after that, the adrenaline was pumping in her ears too loudly, she sagged back against Sirius, who wrapped an arm tightly around her and held her close, allowing her to draw all the strength she needed from him.

Molly noticed the two, and for the first time smiled at the pairing. She may not particularly like Sirius but she knew in her heart that he had done his best to take care of her family in the past few hours and forever would she be grateful for that.

Annie noticed Molly's stare and stood back straight.

"Breakfast." She announced cheerily, heading over to the stove, Sirius on her heels. They prepared and ate breakfast, Molly announcing to Sirius that they may need to stay over Christmas and the notion put him in such a good mood that the smile didn't leave his face the entire meal.

After they had eaten and piled the dishes, Janine promising to take care of them, they all headed off in different directions to get some sleep. The kids all went upstairs, Molly following them just moments later, but Annie didn't feel much like sleeping and instead entered the library, Sirius not too far behind her.

"You okay?" he questioned, unsure if she had snapped back in the kitchen or not.

"Yeah," she nodded, blushing a bit, "I'm all right, thank you for…" she trailed off but he knew what she meant.

"No problem." He shrugged.

She sat on the nearest couch and he followed suit, careful not to sit too close, now that the crisis of Arthur had been averted, or at least calmed down, he was starting to think about the snogging session they had shared just moments before the world seemed to crash down. Annie didn't seem to be thinking on it too much because she merely scooted closer and snuggled into his side. He wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulders as she started to drift off, her head pillowed gently on his chest.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so you know, I don't regret that kiss."

He smiled as her voice quieted with sleep.

"Me neither, and I believe it was more than a kiss."

She didn't answer, having inadvertently fallen asleep. He just sighed good-naturedly and settled down for a nap.

Molly discovered them a little over two hours later. Annie settled between Sirius' legs, her head pillowed gently on his chest, one of his muscular arms draped over her back, holding her to him, the both of them fast asleep, having no idea of the happenings around them. The older woman sighed and smiled, giving in to the idea of Sirius as an in-law and draped a blanket over the pair, deciding that Annie could visit Arthur later.

--

Whew, that was a long chapter. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also, I borrowed some dialogue from the fifth book. Just saying that J.K. deserves some serious credit for this chappie.

Read and review my lovelies

Andrew's Slinky


	14. Chapter 14

I'm am so, so, so, so sorry for letting this update take so long, but this chapter just gave me the fits

I'm am so, so, so, so sorry for letting this update take so long, but this chapter just gave me the fits. I really hope it was worth the wait and all of you will leave a review.

This chapter is a lemon, you've been warned, so if you don't like, then just skip over that part, but it isn't labeled. I cautioned you, so don't flame me for it.

--

Annie stalked around her room at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place in a terrified stupor. She was supposed to visit Arthur at St. Mungo's in an hour, but she was dangerously close to chickening out. She had always seen Arthur as invincible, he'd survived Voldemort the first time, Death Eaters had not touched his family, and yet, there he was, in the hospital for a very serious injury. He was going to be pale and look like death and she couldn't see him like that. It would break her heart. It would damage her, more than she already was. She usually prided herself on being untouchable and ignoring the fact that Sirius had somehow managed to worm his way into her heart, she had been. But now, the evil had come and touched her family first, and while she felt an anger swell at the mere thought she knew that she couldn't fight back, not yet anyway, when Voldemort was still so very much in the shadows and half the Magical community didn't even believe he was back. She felt helpless, frightened, and alone.

"Annie, is something wrong?" Janine appeared in the doorway, staring at her friend with worried eyes.

Annie paused in her pacing to blink at her friend.

"No, I'm fine."

Janine didn't look convinced.

"Liar."

Annie rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed, her knees trembling.

"I'm not going to see Arthur today, he needs to be with the kids."

Janine looked skeptical of that too.

"Annie, he'd want to see you."

Annie nodded, wringing her hands in her lap.

"I know that, but I just have some things to do." She avoided, standing up and heading towards the door.

"What kind of things?" asked Janine, but Annie didn't answer, she just slipped out the door.

She ended up on the roof. She wasn't entirely sure how, because she didn't remember climbing the staircase, but she was on the roof. Staring out over London, the wind lifting her hair and whipping it around her face, stinging her cheeks as tears stung her eyes, but she ignored them both. She liked the pain, it let her feel something other than afraid, pain, like anger, was something that she had experience with and felt comfortable handling.

"Annie, luv? What are you doing up here?"

She stiffened at the sound of his voice; she didn't want him to catch her crying. She furiously wiped away the tears before turning to face him, but she knew that he could still tell that she was upset.

"Hi Sirius."

He cocked his head to the side as he looked at her and she was forcibly reminded that another part of him was a dog. He looked so much like one, his head to the side, his slate colored eyes piercing her soul and yet looking unassuming all at the same time, worried but not judging.

"I thought I was the only one who knew how to get up here."

She shrugged.

"I found the staircase my second day here."

He gave her a long searching look.

"Is something wrong, pet?" he questioned, the wind whipping his hair around as he took a few steps closer to her. She shrugged, turning away from him and staring out at London once more, curious as to how the entire city could look so peaceful from her height.

Sirius' arms enclosed around her, his hands resting gently at her waist as his chin hit her shoulder.

"Talk to me." He murmured in her ear, taking the time to inhale the scent of her hair. She shivered at the feeling and at the realization that she felt entirely comfortable in his arms. Something about their relationship had altered dramatically.

"I'm just thinking that's all."

He nodded softly, nuzzling her neck for a moment before staring out at the city with her as she melted into his arms.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Arthur." She admitted, unsure as to why she was admitting that to him when she couldn't admit it to Janine, whom she'd known since she was eleven years old.

"He's going to be all right, pet." He told her, his arms tightening around her waist.

She sighed heavily and nodded.

"I know, Sirius, I know. Arthur is a fighter, the entire Weasley clan is, but he's hurt so damn bad, Sirius, I just can't see him like that."

Tears stung her eyes again and Sirius dropped a tender kiss to the smooth skin of her shoulder.

"I know it's scary, luv."

She turned in his embrace and buried her face in the crook of his neck, hiding from the world for as long as she could. Sirius hugged her close, his cheek resting against the top of her head and he let her hide.

"I just can't see him like that, I just can't." she attempted to keep the tears at bay, but they exploded and Sirius hooked his fingers under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"I don't want you to be afraid, luv," he brushed a soft kiss across her lips, "Arthur's going to be just fine, I promise, and seeing him like that won't destroy you."

She smiled softly.

"I know that he'll be okay, but seeing him like that would just break my heart, Sirius. I know that I was here for the first fight, but, it barely touched my family, and now, now it's reaching out to my brother, but what if it hits one of my nephews or Ginny? How am I supposed to handle that? I just feel so helpless knowing that Arthur is hurt and I can't even go and crack some heads for it."

He chuckled and stole another kiss.

"I know the feeling baby, the feeling of being unable to help or change anything, but some day soon the entire world is going to know that Voldemort is back and then we're going to be able to fight back."

She sighed and her head dropped to his shoulder once more. He smiled and hugged her tight.

"Go see your brother, luv, he'll want to see you."

She nodded, knowing and accepting that he was the only person in her life that could have convinced her to visit her brother.

"Okay."

--

Annie returned several hours earlier than Molly and the kids, and headed right back up to the roof, her stomach churning. Sirius watched her from his place in the library and stood, saving his place in his book before going after her.

"Annie?" he asked as she leaned heavily over the edge of the roof, trying to calm her stomach.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I swear."

He kneeled next to her, rubbing her back gently as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"I'm all right." She sat back on her heels, collapsing into Sirius's chest, inhaling his scent as a calming agent.

"You sure?" he asked as she sat between his legs, her back pressed tight against his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, but he just looked so pale and bruised."

Sirius rubbed the inside of her thigh and she shivered, leaning into him further.

"I want you to calm down, luv, he's going to be fine. We all are."

"The fight just never seemed real till now." She turned her head into his chest, and he kissed her temple.

"I know, it never seems real till someone gets hurt."

She nodded, and they sat in compatible silence for a few minutes before Sirius asked,

"You feel better now?"

She leaned in and kissed his neck.

"Yeah."

He grinned down at her and stole a kiss. She leaned forward and kissed him back. His hands tangled in her hair as hers wrapped tight around his shoulders. She shifted so that she was facing him, and kneeled over him, her legs swung over his, her hips pressing into his belly insistently, her fingers curled tightly in his hair, tugging none too gently.

Sirius growled low in his chest as she tugged on his hair and responded by digging his fingers into the flesh of her ass, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could.

Their tongues dueled and for the first time there were no distractions to interrupt their passion. Annie's t-shirt went first, exposing her flat expanse of stomach that peeked into the soft curves of her breasts, hidden by a pale lavender lace bra, her tattoos standing out in great contrast with her skin, and Sirius's hands skimmed her bare skin, delighting in the goose bumps that erupted at his touch.

They broke for air and Annie's head hit his shoulder, she trembled as he continued to touch her, his hands delighting in the smooth expanse of skin that was now their playground. He kissed her shoulder, her neck, nipped at her collarbone as his hands abandoned her stomach and back and moved down over her hips and ass to tease her thighs open. She whimpered at the feeling, her nose burying into the crook of his neck, her blunt teeth pulling at skin and he growled low at the noises she made, the way her hands traveled over him as well, the way she responded to him in a passion filled abandon.

His t-shirt went next and Annie sucked in a breath as she finally caught sight of the muscled wall that was his chest. Slightly fading tattoos in tribal symbols she had never seen covered his entire torso, curling down his arms and even his hands. She sat back slightly, her legs still swung over his, her fingers tracing the tattoos gently and he groaned, his eyes sliding shut in ecstasy; he had forgotten how good it felt to be with a woman. He had forgotten the heady experience it could be to have someone else's hands traveling over your skin, their lips making contact with sensitive areas.

Annie leaned down and kissed the tattoo closest to the hallow of his neck and he whimpered like a puppy, her scent and touch knocking him for six. His hands reached out to her hips to steady himself, give himself something solid to anchor himself to as she continued to kiss his tattoos, bending over his arms, then his chest, his stomach. She even went so far as to reach all the way to his belt buckle and swipe her tongue across the strip of skin just above the waist of his jeans. He groaned deep in his throat and nearly came right there.

She leaned back up and kissed him, their tongues dueling once more, his hands grabbing at her almost desperately as they rolled over so that he was on top. She shrieked in laughter as he leaned over her, his torso covering hers, one arm bent next to her head to keep his weight more centered so that he didn't crush her. For a moment they just looked at one another, stupid grins on their faces as Sirius reached out with his free hand and brushed some hair out of Annie's eyes. She giggled and leaned up to kiss him, engaging him in their erotic duel once more. Her arm wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling him closer, skin-to-skin contact, but it wasn't enough. She needed the ultimate closeness. Now, now, now. And why in the hell weren't they doing something about that?

He broke away from her, unsure of what was happening.

"Annie." It was meant to be questioning but it came out as more of a groan and she dug her fingers into the soft flesh of his bare shoulders.

"Sirius, I need you, now."

He groaned again as he leaned down, his need just as bad as hers, his hands traveling down her body, molding her curves before reaching the waistband of her jeans and unbuttoning them, allowing the zipper to hiss down before helping her remove the denim fabric. His hands skimmed over her naked thighs, brushing gently against the hem of her panties before finishing their trek up her body to cup her face as they kissed intensely. She whimpered at the feeling of so much bare skin, unsure of what to do next, knowing that Sirius had a reputation with women, and that she hadn't been with a man in a really, really long time. Luckily for her, Sirius had control of the situation.

He hooked an arm around her back and lifted her up, her chest pressing tightly into his, their tongues still dueling as he unhooked her bra with one swift move of his fingers and let it fall between them onto their laps. He growled low as he kissed her more insistently, his hands taking expert possession of her breasts, teasing her hardened nipples. He broke their kiss and dipped his head taking one nipple into his mouth. Sucked until her hands fisted in his hair and she was gasping and rocking her hips against him, way past the point of coherent speech and needing him inside her so desperately she was going to die.

"Sirius…" it was a heady, breathy gasp and barely escaped her lips before his lips left her chest to claim hers once more. His jeans went next, leaving Annie in her panties and Sirius in his jockey shorts, neither one leaving much to the imagination.

"Tell me." His voice was husky, low, and sensual. Annie moaned.

"I want you."

He smiled softly, his hands spanning her waist.

"Tell me."

"Sirius, I want you, please."

Their gazes locked as his hands traveled down, urging her to lift her hips, and when she did he slid her knickers off and flung them over his shoulder to join the pile of clothes that had rapidly grown in the past few minutes.

Annie had never felt so exposed in her life. She was completely naked before Sirius's intense gaze, the rays of a naked sun, and the air around them. She had made love in the daytime before, but never had she felt so bare, so vulnerable.

"Sirius." It came out as a needy little whisper and he smiled at her again, their gazes no longer locked as his grey eyes scanned her naked body, drinking in every detail, every line, every curve, all the varying colors of her many tattoos. The scarlet star on her collarbone with two pairs of initials inside, the multicolored stars and silver moon on her stomach and hip, the black and white memorial for her adoptive parents on her left arm, he kissed each one, vowing to take the time to kiss the others later.

She whimpered and arched into him, her fingers digging into his slightly sweaty flesh.

"Dammit Sirius."

He nuzzled her neck before bringing her up towards him, her legs wrapping around his waist as he sheathed himself inside her. It was his turn to whimper. He had forgotten what being with someone could feel like. It had been almost fifteen years.

Annie felt the slightest shot of pain reverberate throughout her body as she adjusted to Sirius's size. It wasn't that he was larger than the men she had been with, but she hadn't been with a man in the better part of a decade, and it took a moment for her body to adjust.

They both stilled, his arms wrapped tight around her middle, her legs tight around his waist, and their lips pressed softly together.

"Sirius." It was a quiet, almost reverenced whisper of his name and with a groan he answered by starting to move within her. She nearly let out a scream at the feeling. He filled her, completely, and she had had sex before, and it had been good, but nothing compared to this. Nothing compared to the way she felt right at this moment, with Sirius's body eased so sweetly into hers, their eyes locked as they rocked slowly together. Her eyes slid closed as her forehead hit his shoulder, their bodies rocking together, the pace speeding up slightly.

"Sirius." She gasped and he groaned her name in return, taking the time to nip at her shoulder, his slight stubble grazing her skin and sending harsh shivers down her spine. The movement sped up more, becoming slightly harder and deeper as he encouraged her to tilt her hips, sending him even further into her body.

"Fuck, Annie." He murmured in her ear, against the dampness of her hair as it started to rain.

"Sirius…I…" she couldn't form the sentence as their movements became more desperate and jerky and then with a scream Annie came, and she came harder than she could ever remember coming before, then again, she couldn't really remember her own name at the moment.

Just a few seconds later Sirius came and they both shuddered as his seed spilled deep inside her. They remained intertwined for a few minutes, their breathing harsh, foreheads touching, wide smiles splitting both their faces as rain poured down on them.

"Annie, that was…"

"Uh-huh."

They laughed.

"It's raining." Annie turned her face towards the rain and Sirius dropped a kiss on her throat.

"We should go inside."

She nodded but neither one moved, until her head dropped back onto his shoulder as the exhaustion she felt started to catch up with her.

Sirius slowly eased out of her and she groaned before flopping to the side, landing none too gently on her back, the warmth of the rain falling over her body, washing the sweat away. Sirius flopped backwards too, landing on his back, his arms spread out and Annie shifted until her head fell to rest on the curve of his bicep and she turned towards him slightly. He smiled at her and pulled her close until her head landed on his bare chest. She could feel the beat of his heart under her cheek, strong, steady, comforting, and alarming all at the same time. They had just made love, gotten as intimate as you could get. The only question was. What in the hell did they do now?

She didn't realize she had spoken the thought out loud until he answered her.

"I guess we get dressed."

She laughed, he sounded unsure, not anything like the man she had gotten to know in the past few months.

"I guess we do."

They both sat up and started to pull their drenched clothes onto their equally drenched bodies. Each sneaking glances at the other, both knowing that as erotic as it had been to see the other naked, seeing all the places that they had touched and kissed and caressed being covered back up, becoming secret once more, was the most erotic thing they would ever experience. The rain became harder as they launched back down the stairs, landing harshly on the third floor landing, only two doors before them, the one that they had just exited, and Sirius's bedroom door.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up." He took her hand in his and took her into his bedroom, closing the door behind her. She smiled at him as he disappeared into the bathroom, already peeling his wet t-shirt off.

"You can borrow some things if you want." He called to her, and even though Annie knew that it would make more sense for her to go downstairs and change into her own clothes, a part of her wanted to have Sirius's scent back on her, the rain having washed it away.

"Thank-you." She called back before opening a few drawers and pulling out an old button up, that he had to have worn at seventeen for school, and a pair of loose boxer shorts. Her underclothes were completely drenched, so she forewent them, letting them sit in the wet pile of her outer layers. She slowly eased the boxer shorts up, a little sore from the earlier activities, and then pulled the oxford on, buttoning it up most of the way, and silently chuckling at how large it was on her, even though it was obvious that it would never fit Sirius, at least not anymore. She rolled the sleeves up to her elbows and then ran her fingers through her damp hair, pushing it back from the few places it was sticking to her face.

Sirius reappeared from the bathroom; a pair of loose fitting khaki trousers on and a blue button up shirt that looked much like the one that Annie was wearing. He stepped, barefooted, into his bedroom and stopped dead in his tracks. Annie was sitting on his bed, her gaze locked on her surroundings, viewing the many pictures and Gryffindor banners that plastered the walls. Sirius had been quite rebellious as a teenager and had put permanent sticking charms on the backs of every picture in the room, including the many posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls.

He cleared his throat to let her know he was there and she turned to look at him, smiling.

"Hey."

He smiled back, liking the look of her in his clothes.

"Hi."

She blushed lightly as he crossed the room and sat on the bed next to her, his hand brushing hers gently. He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"Why are you so nervous all the sudden?" he asked and she shrugged, looking around.

"I dunno, I guess I was just thinking about what just happened, and…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say and he sighed, leaning over and kissing her neck.

"Annie," he moved up a bit and kissed her again, "people who shag will do it again if the opportunity presents itself, as long as the shagging doesn't suck."

She giggled as he kissed right on the pulse point just below the curve of her jaw, his fingers dancing lightly against the exposed skin of her forearm.

"And it didn't suck."

She laughed again, her arms wrapping around his neck as they tumbled back onto the bed, sinking into the pillows. He kissed her softly, sweetly, and she sighed happily.

They tumbled into bed exactly three months after they met, letting Harry win his and Ron's bet in a landslide.

--

I'm not entirely sure how much I like the ending of this chapter, but I do think that the rest of it is the perfect cross between sweet and sexy. I hope you liked it, drop me a line and tell me what's up.

Read and Review, my lovelies

Andrew's Slinky


	15. Chapter 15

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Annie turned in her sleep, and when her skin came into contact with a slightly damp Sirius she blinked awake.

"Sirius?" she questioned as the raven-haired man turned to look at her and wrapped a lazy arm around her completely naked waist.

"What's the matter, luv?" he asked her as he read the slight bit of confusion in her voice.

"Nothing." She smiled serenely and stretched in his embrace, snuggling into his bare chest, her left pointer finger reaching out to trace his tattoos. He trembled beneath her touch, having been alone for almost fifteen years, just the slightest bit of contact with her bare skin made him instantly hard.

She leaned up and kissed his neck.

"Maybe we should talk about last night."

He groaned and shook his head.

"Why?"

She giggled at his whining voice.

"Well, maybe because we just had sex and we should know what it is."

"Okay, when two people love each other very much…" he started sarcastically and she slapped his open chest.

"Oh you know what I meant, you cad."

He grinned and kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah, yeah, I know and while I would love to explain to you what we just did, I would much rather show you."

She giggled and ducked out of his embrace. He pouted, his arms crossing over his bare chest.

"Oh c'mon, luv, don't pout, I'm just too sore from last night."

His eyes got a bit wider and reached out to her, his arm wrapping tightly around her as he brought her sharply into his chest, his hands roaming to find any injuries.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked her, alarmed.

She shook her head, her hands reaching out to calm him.

"No, Sirius, baby, you didn't hurt me, it's just been…it's been a while since I've been with anybody." She blushed a little and he smiled, kissing her temple. She snuggled into his embrace, her head pillowing on his chest and then a sickly thought entered her mind.

She wasn't entirely sure what it was that had drawn her to Sirius. He wasn't her type, he was a player, and mentally unstable, and lonely, and yet she found him so damn attractive that she had a really hard time concentrating on anything other than jumping on him and shagging him senseless in the nearest broom closet. It was dangerous to her health, really. Not being able to concentrate on her work, or sleep, or even in the shower, because she kept thinking of him. She knew that sooner or later they were going to have to shag to get it out of their systems, but she hadn't thought that it would be so soon. Not that she was really complaining, because he was muscular and gorgeous and a fabulous kisser. She was in love with him already. This was possibly even more dangerous than just lusting after him. Especially since he was entirely within her grasp now; the access was just too easy. She wasn't entirely sure if she could trust herself being around him, even with other people in the house, it was too tempting to drag him off to his bedroom and never let him back out into the world. She opened her mouth to say it out loud, to keep from putting ideas into his head, but he cut her off with a gentle kiss.

She melted into him, unable to resist the taste of him, the feeling that he gave her deep within her stomach. It was toxic to her system, a drug that she could all too easily become addicted to, and wasn't it funny that she didn't really seem to mind?

"Maybe we should show our faces, you know, let the others know you're okay?" Sirius whispered to her, and Annie knew that it wasn't meant as anything other than the truth, but it became almost a sexy come on in his voice.

"Sure, I guess so." She shrugged, sounding incredibly reluctant. He smiled, kissed the curve of her shoulder and then released her, starting to stand. She groaned and stretched out, resting back against the pillows and watching Sirius get dressed. He grinned at her over his shoulder and she giggled.

"Morning." She murmured to him and he grinned wider, leaning down and kissing her again.

"Morning pet."

He took her hand and pulled her up off the mattress. She groaned and stretched again, unaware of the way his eyes traveled over her in lust.

"On second thought," his hands closed around her waist and she melted back against his still bare chest, "maybe we should stay in just a little bit longer."

He dropped a kiss to her shoulder then her jaw and then her cheek. She giggled and turned away from him, wrapping herself up in one of his sheets.

"No, you dragged me out of bed, it's too late now, doll."

He laughed, taking a step forward and grabbing hold of the sheet, pulling her into him, giving her a deep, Hollywood style kiss.

"Stay in bed with me." He murmured against her lips, a soft smile on his face. She took a deep breath and buried her face into his chest.

"Can't…Janine will be wondering where I am."

He wrapped his arms tightly around her and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"All right, if you have to go."

She nodded and returned his hug.

"Yeah, I think I do, the kids will want to see me too, I think, they're too damn perceptive for their own good."

He took a step back.

"Are you ashamed of this?" he asked her, his voice hurt.

Her eyes widened as he latched onto her worst fear. She took a deep breath and attempted to cover.

"No, I'm not ashamed, I just don't think that anyone will be too happy about it, maybe we should ease them into it."

"You mean Molly?"

Annie sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting the sheet fall to the floor.

"Yes, Molly scares me Sirius; I really don't think that we should dance down the stairs all happy about us when she's terrified that she might lose her husband in the next couple of days."

He sighed and kissed her, giving in to her wide blue eyes.

"Fine, you talked me into it. We won't tell anyone yet, not till Arthur is better."

She smiled kissing him deeply, her fingers curled tightly in his hair.

"Thank you baby."

He rolled his eyes and picked her up bridal style, carrying her back towards the bed.

"We should stay in today, you know, since we can't tell anyone."

She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder.

"I think I like that plan."

They tumbled back into the pillows, their talking done for now.

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I had such a terrible time with this chapter that I almost pulled all of my hair out, but I finally got it to a good place I think, so hopefully you all like it. Read and review please.

~Andrew's Slinky


	16. Chapter 16

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Annie rolled over the next morning and stretched to find an empty space on the bed. She sat up in alarm for a moment and looked around.

"Sirius?" she asked, looking for the familiar man, but didn't find him. The room was completely empty.

She sighed heavily and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She flopped back against the sheets and stared up at the ceiling for a moment; every second of the past two days flashing in her mind. It had been a big mistake to have sex with Sirius, she knew that. She had known it when she was doing it and she certainly knew it now that it was all over; but just the thought of Sirius had every nerve in her body erupt in fire. There was something about the way he touched her, the way he looked at her, the way she felt when she was with him. She didn't have to think, she didn't have to worry about the rapidly approaching demolition of the world she knew.

She had fun with him.

That was something that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Sure she enjoyed her time with Janine and there was a schoolgirl innocence to their fun, but Sirius…he made her feel things that she had thought long ago she had forgotten how to feel. She wasn't in love with him; she certainly hadn't known him long enough for that to be the case. But there was something curling tight in the pit of her stomach whenever she thought about him that she had a feeling would keep her coming back for more.

She reached over the side of the bed and grabbed a fistful of her air-dried clothes from two days before and quickly slid them on as her stomach erupted into loud growls. She was starving.

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Sirius sat down at the kitchen table, looking tired and slightly haggard, but happy.

"What's with you?" asked Remus as he caught a look at his best friend and passed him a mug of coffee.

"Hmmm?" asked Sirius, looking up, not having heard a word.

"I said what's with you?"

Sirius just grinned lazily and chuckled deep in his throat.

"Nothing, mate, nothing."

"Well that's a lie if I ever heard one, and believe me; I've heard a lot of lies from you." Remus retorted, slurping his coffee in his usual manner, his amber eyes careworn.

"Maybe it is a lie, but I did promise not to tell." Sirius shrugged.

Janine entered the kitchen, busily sweeping her hair up into a ponytail.

"Morning boys." She greeted warmly, a wide smile on her face as her robe billowed openly about her.

"Good morning Janine."

"Morning."

She looked at Sirius quizzically.

"What's with you?" she asked, looking him up and down, assessing the tiredness in his entire body.

"Nothing, why does everyone keep asking me that?" he questioned.

She giggled.

"Maybe because you look like you've gone ten rounds with a couple of Death Eaters and loved every minute of it."

He laughed, tilting his head back.

"Maybe I did."

"Maybe you did what?" asked Annie as she entered the kitchen, yawning and stretching, a wide smile splitting her face as she saw Sirius sitting at the table. He grinned just as wide right back at her.

"Well, you look happy," Janine commented somewhat suspiciously, "did you do something slutty?"

Annie looked stricken before recovering quickly.

"I'm not that happy."

Sirius ducked his head as Remus looked over at him, but looked up and winked at Annie as she sat next to him and reached across the table for a mug of coffee. He grinned lazily at her, his eyes sparkling as she blushed spectacularly, looking away from the other two in the room.

"Annie, you okay?" asked Remus, looking slightly concerned but more amused at the blush on her cheeks.

"I'm fine, honest." She nodded.

Janine cocked her head to the side in her usual manner and looked at her best friend for a long moment.

"You know something, I realize I've been on duty but I haven't seen you around in the past two days."

Annie blushed deeper and both she and Sirius looked away.

Remus choked into his coffee as the wheels in his head finally turned and connected.

"Oh my God," Janine beat him to it, "you two were upstairs shagging!"

"Janine, shut up." Annie glared murderously in the direction of her best friend and got up to close the kitchen door.

"Do you think I want Molly hearing that shouted around?" she questioned as she turned to face the room.

"Well she'll have to find out sooner or later." Remus reminded, sending a look at his friend that clearly spoke volumes that he was miffed he hadn't been told. Sirius had the good graces to look at least a little bit sheepish.

"We'd rather it'd be later." He admitted with a shrug, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous fashion.

Annie sighed heavily and sat down, looking properly mortified.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Janine sounded scandalized, but there was a wide grin on her face as she sat down at the table with the other three.

"Yeah, well, I just got out of bed a few minutes ago thank you very much, besides, it's a private thing."

Janine simply smirked and leaned forward on her elbows.

"Was it good?"

Remus choked on his coffee once more as Annie sank down into her seat. Sirius merely turned towards her as though there was nothing that he'd enjoy more than hearing her answer.

"Janine honestly, he's right in the room." Annie blushed and Sirius looked over at her, surprise etched in his features.

Annie seemed to catch her mistake.

"Not that it was bad, love, it wasn't…I…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say, completely mortified and certain that at any moment her blush was going to cause her to spontaneously combust.

Remus was laughing now, at the blush on Annie's cheeks and the sullen look on Sirius's.

"Shut up Remus!" Annie shouted, tossing a dishtowel at him. He ducked and continued laughing, not having enjoyed himself this much since he was still in school.

"I'm sorry, Annie, honest, I am, it's just, I haven't seen Sirius look this put out in a long time."

Annie smiled at that as well, and leaned over to Sirius, patting his arm as her cheek rested against his shoulder.

"Don't be put out, love, it was very good." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. He grinned triumphantly at her and stole a proper kiss, making Annie duck her head and blush, all of the sudden very shy because of their audience, who were sending each other covert looks.

Janine sighed and smiled over at the couple as Sirius put his arm around Annie's shoulders and pulled her close, kissing the crown of her hair.

"What, Janine?" asked Annie as she caught her friend's smile.

"Nothing, I just haven't seen your face brighten up like that in a very long time."

Annie simply grinned and ducked comfortably further into Sirius's warm embrace, thinking to herself that maybe this hadn't been a very big mistake after all.

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I am the worst person in the world for not updating sooner you guys. I apologize but I just didn't seem to know where to go from the last chapter, but I like this one, hopefully you all like it too.

As always, my loves, read and review.

~Andrew's Slinky.


	17. Chapter 17

I SUCK, I haven't updated this in like months, and I feel awful about it. Life got in the way, as it almost always does. Is that a good enough excuse? I hope so.

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Annie was unaware of the grey eyes that trailed over her curves as she stretched at the dinner table, seated between Janine and Harry. Her and Sirius's little affair/relationship (she was still uncertain what to classify it as) had been going on for over a week now, and it seemed that every time they were together, they had trouble doing anything other than ravishing each other. So she was thankful for the other people. She enjoyed her time with Sirius and more often than not initiated it herself, but she knew that the moment their lips were apart and they had to actually speak to one another, had to forge a bond beyond the physical, she might just run.

The idea of a relationship, an actual full-fledged dating relationship, with the one and only Sirius Black had her stomach in knots.

She didn't know why.

But either way, she was happy for the distraction of a family style meal.

"Annie?"

She looked up from her plate sharply and glanced at Molly, who looked very much like she was expecting an answer. The rest of the table had gone relatively silent and they were all looking around curiously.

"I'm sorry Molly, I drifted off for a moment, what did you ask?" Annie returned politely, her eyes drifting to Sirius for a moment. Their gazes locked and her stomach lurched.

She hurriedly looked back at Molly.

"I asked what the Order is expecting you to do about the vampire clan; it's been near a month now hasn't it?"

Annie nodded, all of a sudden feeling tightness in her shoulder as she remembered the wound.

"Yeah, uh, I'm supposed to keep contact, see what pans out. I'm not too worried about it, after all, vampires favor strength, so, us defeating Fiena should only aid in our cause to get them to join us."

Molly smiled and nodded.

Sirius's voice boomed through the room, a little sharper and louder than entirely necessary.

"They aren't sending you back, are they?" he demanded of her, his food now forgotten as he looked at her. His eyes sparking almost dangerously; he looked angry and she favored him with an ill look, silently begging that he watch his tongue. They were in mixed company after all, Janine the only other one in the room who knew of their affair.

"They might, it all depends."

"On what?" he demanded once more, ignoring her pleading eyes.

She sighed the sigh of the long suffering and placed her fork onto the table. She looked at him like he was a child and folded her arms in front of her.

"On if they think that it would help."

"And if you die in the process?" he asked her, the entirety of the room listening in rapt attention now. Occasionally breaking off to exchange questioned looks and raised eyebrows.

"Then I suppose you'd have a funeral to go to, wouldn't you?" she ground out between clenched teeth; annoyed with his obvious angry concern.

He looked very much like he had something sarcastic, perhaps even cruel to say in response and opened his mouth; then deflated like a balloon.

"I suppose I would."

Annie's back was straight, her eyes harsh, she had been entirely ready for a fight, and he had already given in.

That was no fun.

She liked an impassioned Sirius; he was much more entertaining than the sullen host that he'd been at the beginning of the summer. She was tempted to ask him why he cared so much, but realized that was a path she didn't even want to walk on alone with him, let alone in a room full of her family and other members of the Order.

She bit the inside of her cheek, counted to ten, and when that didn't work she pushed away from the table.

"I'm a bit tired, I'm gonna…" she didn't finish the sentence, she didn't have to. The room had seemed to accept her lame excuse and so she fled, walking calmly from the room, not allowing herself to be truly angry until she hit the stairs. She ran up them, ran away from the man downstairs who already cared for her far too much and so much more than she cared for him.

Was that the problem?

That he was too much in like with her? She didn't allow herself to even think the word love.

She didn't know.

She didn't know how she felt about all of this. Being with Sirius was wonderful, the touch of his skin, the heat of his breath, the safe feeling she got when curled tightly in his arms at night.

It was everything she could have ever asked for, and she was running.

Afraid of ruining a good thing?

Maybe, clichéd, but possible.

Afraid she felt just as strongly for him as he obviously did for her?

Again, a possibility if a little romance novel-esque for her.

Her life had been simple just a few months ago, had been wonderfully, happily simple, if a bit lonely.

She'd never realized how pathetic she was before.

But now.

Now she was painfully aware of it.

She needed Sirius, needed the touch of his skin, the heat of his breath, the safety he provided her.

That was the fear.

Her independence, gone.

Undone, all because of a man. The feminist inside of her screamed and roared in protest.

This was not happening! She was not falling for a man that she'd become dependent on!

She wasn't becoming dependent on a man at all!

But the 1950's housewife side of her contradicted almost immediately.

She liked feeling safe. She liked feeling loved. She liked the fact that he was there for her no matter what. And was it really such a bad thing to like him? Would it really destroy everything she was if she allowed herself to fall with this man? For this man?

She had a feeling that she was already dangerously close.

Ugh, her life was far too damn complicated to turn back now. She'd just have to accept it, if a bit begrudgingly.

She was falling for Sirius Black, and she maybe even kind of like it.

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Sirius watched as Annie stretched at the dinner table, her eyes a bit glazed over as Molly chatted on about the day.

Gods she was beautiful.

He shifted in his seat, all of the sudden uncomfortable with the thoughts he was currently having in a room full of people, one of whom was his Godson.

He'd been attracted to Annie from the start, there was no use in denying it, he'd practically told her so himself just a few hours after she'd arrived. The spark between them was undeniable as well; and he'd always been a fan of playing with fire.

She'd been the one to initiate whatever it was that they were doing. He didn't define it as an affair, but he knew she'd never define it as a relationship.

He didn't like that last thought; it made him sound like the girl in the relationship.

"Annie?"

Her name broke him out of his thoughts, his eyes still glued to her form, even though she'd stopped stretching at least two minutes ago.

"I'm sorry Molly, I drifted off for a moment, what did you ask?" her voice was polite, if a little higher pitched than normal. He'd give a lot of money to know what she'd been thinking about when she'd been staring at her plate so intently just seconds ago.

Her voice made him drag his eyes up to her face and off her body. She glanced at him for a moment and then quickly looked back at Molly. He couldn't resist the urge to smirk; she had just looked very much like the silly girls who'd liked him in school. Glancing his way to see if he was watching them but when they caught his eye, they'd turn back to their friends or whatever they were doing and giggle, a little embarrassed or thrilled.

Annie didn't giggle, and he was sort of glad for that.

"I asked what the Order is expecting you to do about the vampire clan; it's been near a month now hasn't it?" Molly reiterated.

His stomach clenched as Annie's entire body language changed and she took the pressure of her once injured shoulder, shifting. He didn't like to think about that day, it scared him. There had been entirely too much blood for his liking.

Although he did make sure to kiss the faded scar each time they were together.

He didn't want to dissect that one.

"Yeah, uh, I'm supposed to keep contact, see what pans out. I'm not too worried about it, after all, vampires favor strength, so, us defeating Fiena should only aid in our cause to get them to join us." Annie finally responded to Molly's question, and his stomach tightened almost painfully so.

"They aren't sending you back, are they?" he asked her; well it was really more of a demand, and his concern sounded obvious in his voice, even to his own ears. He wanted to wince at the strangled sort of fear inside of him but he didn't, he remained level, even, focusing instead on the anger in his chest. Anger was something that he knew how to handle.

"They might, it all depends." She replied, her eyes wide, pleading for him to drop it, to ignore this thread of conversation. He knew that he was overreacting to the situation if he were just as friend, as everyone in the room except Janine thought. However, he considered himself perfectly valid to be this concerned when she was his…well, whatever it was that she was to him; certainly more than just a friend.

"On what?" he asked her. She sighed heavily, and placed her fork down, knowing that he wasn't about to give in. He felt a strange sort of victory at that. She crossed her arms in front of her on the table and looked directly at him, as though she were about to explain something she considered simple to someone of lesser intelligence.

"On if they think that it would help."

"And if you die in the process?" he asked. His voice had gotten a little softer, he wasn't sure if that was because what he'd just spoken frightened him or the fact that she wouldn't even consider it had him angry.

"Then I suppose you'd have a funeral to go to, wouldn't you?" she ground out between clenched teeth; annoyed with his obvious angry concern.

He opened his mouth, completely determined to cut her down to size, to say something that was most likely going to be unimaginably cruel in her eyes. He stared at her, his mouth agape as though he were attempting to catch any fly in the room.

Her eyes were narrowed now, angry, and he felt something twist in his gut.

Guilt.

He'd made her angry, and instead of attempting to goad her some more, he actually felt bad about it.

He didn't want her to be angry with him.

He wanted that brilliant thousand watt smile she reserved only for him in their most private of moments to come back.

He deflated, his cruel words pulled back. He could only come up with one thing to say.

"I suppose I would."

It was her turn to deflate. She was obviously still angry, but she ignored it. Ignored him. She even looked a little sad. Almost, disappointed.

Sad that she couldn't say what she wanted?

Disappointed that he wouldn't fight with her anymore?

Sad that he cared for her?

She placed her hands on the table and stood.

"I'm a bit tired, I'm gonna…" she didn't finish the sentence, she just left, the door swinging closed behind her.

Sirius felt slightly empty. Still angry.

Not so much with her anymore, but with himself. Why did he have to care so damn much when it was becoming painfully obvious that she just didn't feel as strongly for him as he did for her?

Why did he love her?

He did love her, he knew that, he'd probably never tell her, but _he_ knew it.

It was going to slowly kill him if he let it fester like this, he knew, but he'd been festering himself for damn near fifteen years, what was one more thing to add to the burning pile?

Did she even have feelings for him?

Not attraction, actual feelings.

He used to think so, but now, now he wasn't so sure.

Did she want to hide this thing between them because of Arthur, or was there a darker cause to it? Did she just want him in bed but not anywhere else?

Ugh, he was totally the chick in this relationship and it was driving him mad.

He stood, clapping Harry on the shoulder as he passed him, not saying a word to anyone. He could feel their eyes on him, wondering what had caused him to react to Annie's work that way, or for the fighting to just so suddenly stop.

He didn't bother to give them answers, because he didn't care for them to know at the moment.

He knocked softly on Annie's door.

She opened it, and looked up at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

He cupped her face gently and kissed her. A chaste brush of his lips against hers.

She left the door open and walked back into her room.

He took it as an invitation and stepped in behind her. Merlin's beard, he did not want to have this conversation.

She sat on her bed, he joined her.

She leaned against him; he wrapped an arm around her.

He didn't say anything.

She didn't say anything.

The clock ticked and still, silence. He opened his mouth and drew in a breath, he had nothing to say, but he could try.

She turned into his shoulder, pressing her body more firmly into the side of his.

"Please don't say anything," she murmured into his t-shirt.

So he didn't.

He shut his mouth, tightened his grip, and allowed his heart to break.

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Okay, when I started this, I didn't mean for it to be so melancholy, but, hey, I guess it happens. I realize that you all have waited months for this chapter, if there is still anyone waiting out there, and I know this was probably a little if not extremely disappointing. It lacks any real action, and I know that the chapter before this our favorite pair was happy as clams. But every relationship has its doubted moments, and I guess this is theirs.

Just to be clear, Annie does like him, but Sirius is in LOVE with her. So, the relationship is a little more leaning towards Sirius' heart than Annie's at the moment. Perhaps it'll change.

Leave reviews and find out.

Please?

~Andrew's Slinky


	18. Chapter 18

Annie lay curled up in her bed, naked, tracing the tattoos that covered Sirius's back as he slept. They really were beautiful. Tribal markings, blue swirls and curls that meant nothing to her, but seemed to be very important to him, after all, they covered ninety percent of his body.

She shouldn't have let him in her room, she shouldn't have kissed him, and they shouldn't have had sex. Except they had, and now, now she was more confused than ever. She shouldn't be sending him mixed signals like this. She knew what it was he felt for her, or at the very least she had a pretty good idea, and she didn't want him thinking that she felt more for him than she did. Not that she didn't feel for him, but…ugh, now her brain was starting to hurt.

He groaned and shifted, rolling over; his grey eyes bleary as he blinked awake.

"Annie, love, what are you doing up?" he asked her, capturing the hand she'd been tracing his tattoos with and dropping a gentle kiss to the inside of her palm. She shivered involuntarily at the action, and decided, that it was so much simpler to just pretend, at least for a little while, that they were a real couple in love. So she scooted closer to him, setting her head on his chest, and taking his arm, wrapping it tightly around her. He responded instantly and pulled her tightly to him, their legs intertwining as his heartbeat filled her ears.

"Just tracing your tattoos," she answered his question and he smiled, holding her closer.

"Oh?"

She sighed contentedly.

"Yeah, they really are beautiful, you know."

He smiled wider, sleep already starting to overtake him once more.

"_You_ really are beautiful."

She stilled in his arms terror ripping through her. He was already asleep. They weren't a couple in love and it hit her like the rubble from her home. She was curled up tightly in the warm muscular embrace of a man who loved her, and she was afraid to fall asleep.

She left his side and got out of bed, pulling her clothes on at lightning speed. She looked over at him from the doorway and the smallest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips. He looked peaceful and sweet asleep.

She sighed heavily, willing the pounding in her head to go away as she started downstairs. She listened carefully, and upon hearing that no one else was awake, slipped into the library, grabbing the blanket from the back of the reading couch and curling up tight beneath it. She took a deep frustrated sigh and prayed she'd wake up before Sirius could discover her sleeping on the library couch.

* * *

Sirius awoke alone and for a moment, however brief it was he thought he was back in Azkaban. Until he shifted beneath the blankets and Annie's signature scent hit him. Gods she smelled good and he smiled happily to himself, shifting to pull her into his arms only to realize that she wasn't there. His clothes from the night before were the only ones on the floor, and he noticed Janine's bed hadn't been slept in. Although he couldn't blame her for staying away, he and Annie weren't exactly quiet when they were together.

He tugged his clothes on and carefully went downstairs, keeping his eyes peeled for the tell-tale strawberry blonde hair.

He ran into Harry first.

"Hey Sirius," his godson greeted, sounding tired and drawn for a fifteen year old.

"Hey Harry, you all right?" he asked, curious as to what his godson had been doing that would make him look so tired.

"Uh, yeah," was the distracted response as Ron and Hermione entered the room, bickering.

"He was not, Ronald, I wish you'd just leave it alone!"

Ron opened his mouth to retort but Harry managed to reach them and elbow him in the ribs. The tall redhead shut his mouth but glowered anyway, looking as though he still had a few choice words on the subject that had been closed to him.

"Harry?" Sirius questioned, and his dark-headed godson looked over at him, "You seen Annie around?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, sorry mate, haven't seen her since dinner yesterday. She still mad at you?"

Sirius grinned like the rogue he was.

"Nah, just thought I'd have seen her by now."

Hermione colored spectacularly because she knew what Sirius was referring to, Harry looked a little sheepish but offered a grin, and Ron just continued to glower on the previous subject, oblivious to the goings on around him.

"I saw her in the library earlier, Sirius." Hermione offered and he directed his still roguish grin at her.

"Thanks Hermione."

He by-passed the trio of friends and entered the library, closing the doors behind him softly.

"Annie, love, you in here?" he called into the large room, his voice echoing slightly off the rows of books. He glanced about the room casually and just when he thought she wasn't there, he saw her tell-tale strawberry blonde locks hanging off the arm of the couch. He leaned over the back of it to look down at her sleeping form, clad in the clothes from the night before.

He smiled down at the sight for a moment before he realized what the significance was of the fact that she was still wearing the clothes from the night before. She had come down and slept on the couch. Instead of being in bed with him, and that bothered him much more than he liked.

"Annie." He reached down to gently shake her shoulder. She grunted, rather unladylike, in her sleep and twisted from his hand. He shook her shoulder again.

"Annie, ducks, c'mon, time to get up, we need to have a talk."

She growled under her breath and sat up slowly, kicking her blanket off her sharply and running her fingers through her hair.

"What is it?" she asked with a loud yawn as Sirius sat down beside her.

"Well, I think we should have chat about why you decided to abandon me in _your_ bed last night."

She shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

"Do we have to?"

He wasn't smiling when she looked back at him and that sent a knife through her stomach; she didn't want to explain why she'd run away, she didn't want to have to tell him that he was so much more attached to her than she was to him.

"Yeah, I think we do."

She curled her feet up underneath her and sighed heavily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I just….I wanted to…." She trailed off, uncertain as to where she should begin and just how honest she should be.

"Annie, do you not want to do this anymore?" he asked her, and he knew it hadn't been that long that they'd been together, but if her heart wasn't in it, and he already felt like this after such a short time, then, there was no point in continuing their liaison, relationship, whatever it was that anyone wanted to call it.

She looked over at him, her big blue eyes filling with tears that she couldn't control as they slipped and poured down her face.

As badly as Sirius wanted to comfort her, he restrained himself.

"Annie?"

She took a shaky breath.

"I was curled up in your arms last night and I was afraid to fall asleep," she admitted in a whisper. Sirius sat back, looking very much like she had just physically slapped him across the face.

"You're afraid of me?" he asked her quietly, and Annie gasped softly at the barely hidden emotion in his voice.

"No, no, I'm not. It isn't that, it isn't you Sirius, it's…." she trailed off again; once more uncertain of just how honest she wanted to be.

"Then what? If you aren't afraid of me, then what is it that frightened you so bad that you couldn't stay with me?"

Annie curled further into herself, wrapping her arms tighter around her torso.

"You're in love with me, aren't you?" she asked him and he didn't answer for a moment, startled by the sudden change in topic.

"I….yes," he saw no point in lying to her, he did love her, and he knew it was too short a time to have fallen in love with someone, and yet…he did love her.

She nodded, "I thought as much."

It was Sirius' turn to shrink into himself, "Is that a problem?"

Annie got to her feet, stepping further into the library, not looking at the man she had left seated on the couch.

"No, yes, I mean…I don't know Sirius, we've only been together a little over a week, and we've only known each other a few months, don't you think it's a little sudden to be in love with me? It doesn't make any sense."

Sirius raked his hands ruthlessly through his hair, "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I've said that exact same thing to myself? But I love you Annie, and I can't stop it just because it's been a short amount of time."

Annie shook her head, turning to look back at him, "You can't be in love with me, Sirius, it doesn't make sense. I'm your first relationship…affair….whatever since Azkaban; it's been a long time since you've been able to connect to another human being."

Sirius felt his temper flare, "You think I'm touched in the head, do you?"

Annie didn't take the bait; she just shook her head sadly, "No, I just think you've been alone for a long time."

He didn't contradict her; he had been alone for a long time. Annie continued to stand on the other side of the library, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, her blue eyes trained on Sirius, as though waiting for a cue from him on what was going to happen next. Sirius stared right back at her, his eyes begging her to come back over to his side. She didn't move.

"Sirius? Annie?" Molly's voice echoed through the room as the door opened and her redhead poked in, "Oh thank goodness, there you are, we're having breakfast, come on."

Annie smiled and her arms dropped back to her sides, "Sure Molly, we'll be right there."

Molly nodded, glancing curiously between the two, realizing that she'd interrupted something important and ducked back out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Sirius got to his feet and crossed the room slowly, giving Annie ample time to get away if she wanted to. She remained immobile.

"Annie, pet, I love you and that isn't going to change anytime soon. I know it hasn't been very long and I know you don't love me, but I'm not going anywhere," he reached her and stood before her, his hands coming out to rest on her arms, reassuring and terrifying all at the same time.

She didn't respond.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, "You let me know what you want to do."

She still didn't respond.

He smiled at her off-handedly and then left the library, his heart pounding a mile a minute.

Annie watched him go and felt something inside her twist uncomfortably. Why did he have to go and use the "l" word? She was perfectly happy with the status quo and he had seemed to be as well, why did he have to ruin it by developing feelings for her? And why did she feel so awful now that he wasn't by her side?


End file.
